By CHARLES BOLDES
Student Reporter
The Northwestern Secular Student Alliance partnered up with the Alva First Presbyterian church Oct. 8-9 to help paint a house for a family in need.
“The Secular Student Alliance is a group of students who aim to promote critical and scientific thinking, logic, and reason, and to preserve our secular society maintaining a separation of church and state to ensure fair treatment to anyone regardless of their beliefs,” said Matt Schneider, biology major, SSA president and a junior at Northwestern.
On Saturday the group came together with First Presbyterian Church of Alva to help a family paint their home, which they had been trying to do for several years now but had been unable to afford. The community project was supposed to be done in one day, but participants underestimated how long it would actually take to paint the home.
“I severely underestimated how much time it took to paint a house. I thought it would take a few hours tops, but we were there for two days,” said SSA member Justin Regier.
“We like to promote the idea that we can all do great things together if we can put our differences to the side and cooperate,” said Schneider. “This is one thing we wanted to show by partnering with the First Presbyterian Church of Alva to do this community service project, and by doing so, we were able to do something awesome for a great family within our community.”
Ever since the SSA began, they have wanted to organize a community project, and Aaron Place, an associate professor of biology at Northwestern, knew a family in need. They were happy that the Presbyterian Church was kind enough to help out with the project by funding the supplies and feeding volunteers for both days.
“It was fun. We had a good time laughing and joking with each other and it always makes you feel good to help someone out,” said Place. “Anyone can be a secular student, even religious students. Our members must want equal and fair treatment to all, regardless of whether they are religious or not. We like to promote the idea that we can all do great things together if we can put our differences to the side and cooperate.”
“Eating lunch at the church was an awesome experience for us. Many churches wouldn’t be that accepting to our group, but Rev. Dr. Judith Pistole and all the clergy and churchgoers treated all of us just like we were regular members. They are an absolutely incredible group of people.”
For Place, one of the most memorable moments during the project was when he fell off the ladder; it was quite a sight, but he wasn’t hurt at all.
Schneider recalled the moment when they finally finished painting on the second day and were able to see how it improved the house.
“Just seeing the looks on the faces of the family members as we progressed with the painting and when we were finally done was incredible. It really felt like we were making a big difference for them, and that was a great feeling,” said Schneider.
The project also was an attempt to get out the message about what SSA is and what its members believe. “I think it’s great that we’re getting out into the community. We still get some hateful messages based on a misunderstanding of who we are, but with projects like this, we can learn to set aside our differences and just do something great for our neighbors,” said Regier.
SSA members said the project also made them appreciate their adviser, Place. “The SSA couldn’t have asked for a greater sponsor for our group,” said Schneider.