Mary Unis ‘14, Staff Writer
Merrimack College set their alarm clocks early on Veterans Day morning to celebrate an annual tradition of service. Students, faculty, and alumni gathered on a Saturday to participate in “Mack Gives Back.”
This event is a volunteer-based initiative geared toward giving back to local communities, schools, and public service departments. “Mack Gives Back” also helps students, faculty, and alumni to honor veterans and celebrate the Augustinian traditions that Merrimack has been built from; as it was just days before the birthday of St. Augustine himself.
This year, Merrimack had its largest number of participants yet, with an impressive 854 individuals joining in on service. Together, over 7,500 hours were tallied and the progress was documented through pictures. Particpants from Merrimack quickly took to everyone’s favorite social media outlets, Instagram and Twitter, to share their experiences by using the hashtag #MackGivesBack. Hundreds of pictures were collected and posted on the Merrimack College website to keep track of all the sites and services through a Twitter timeline of the days events. Students and organizations alike tweeted with pride as they shared pictures of their teams, organizations and peers. Participants were sent to surrounding areas to volunteer with everything from raking leaves to packaging meals.
Sara Hicks, the Director of Residence Life at Merrimack, was very pleased with the turnout. “It was so great to see the whole Merrimack community (students, faculty, staff, alumni, and others) participate in this event to help honor our Veterans and celebrate St. Augustine. People often talk about the sense of community that exists at Merrimack and a day like Mack Gives Back shows our community in action!”
