by Shaniah Taylor

The doors of Gold Dining Hall opened at 5 p.m. on April 4, 2025, unveiling a project sophomore Payton Bell has worked on for months. As a civic leadership ambassador and future co-head of the Civic Leadership Program (CLP), Bell was tasked with planning a spring civic project that would address an issue within our community. By the end of “Hearts in Action: A Day For All,” Greensboro College filled 24 backpacks with school supplies, 16 laundry baskets stocked with housing necessities and 15 boxes packed with pet care items– totaling more than 900 items donated to organizations around Greensboro.

On Friday night, students were invited to choose one of three causes – families in need of school supplies, animal shelters requiring pet care items or single mothers facing homelessness – then they would pack either a backpack, laundry basket or paw box. In addition, students who chose the backpacks or laundry baskets wrote encouraging letters for the recipients to read. A couple of days later, the donations were distributed to the Boys and Girls Club of Greensboro, Guilford Animal Services and Room At the Inn.

The Boys and Girls Club of Greensboro received 24 backpacks filled with school supplies. The Boys and Girls Club of Greensboro has always been an organization that provides youth with a safe and supportive environment to grow – with this donation they can continue to do just that. Bell shared statistics at the event about the financial burden school supplies put on families, emphasizing her goal to ensure parents would not have to choose between essentials like food and making sure their kid was prepared for school. After all, parents spend an average of $586 per child on school supplies and back-to-school shopping causes about 10% of shoppers to take on debt.

The 15 paw boxes were donated to Guilford Animal Services, which was urgently in need of pet care items. The organization runs an adoption and foster agency, keeping animals safe until they can be homed. Inside these boxes were items such as pet pads, food, pet toys, and blankets – and the boxes were all personally designed by the students. Ensuring Guilford Animal Services has the necessities they need to care for these animals ideally will help lower the amount killed in shelters as approximately 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized each year.

Lastly, Room at the Inn received the 16 laundry baskets stocked with dish soap, detergent, baby clothes, toiletries, and washcloths. Room at the Inn is a housing program for single pregnant women or mothers suffering from homelessness which aims to provide a safe environment for the mother and children to grow. Single mothers often face challenges with employment, childcare and obtaining housing – with Room at the Inn being one of only six licensed maternity homes in North Carolina and the only one that serves as a homeless shelter for single mothers is trying to relieve some of that stress and help them with those challenges. According to Bell’s research, 85% of homeless families were headed by single mothers. This information really made the students engage with the activity.

Bell had personal connections to each cause – from adopting dogs from shelters to being raised by a single mother. She said, “I chose these organizations due to personal connection, but also because our program has yet to focus on these communities. I wanted to highlight other vital causes and educate students about them.”

A volunteer at the event, freshman Sage Stovall said in a statement, “I believe the event was very beneficial for not only where the items were going, but for Greensboro College as well. I learned a lot that I did not know before and I enjoyed helping out the community and watching others at GC attend as well.”

The event drew strong attendance and was widely praised for its organization and education. Freshman Lena Daniels attended the event said “I thought it was great how they had a variety of different community service acts, it was not limited to certain groups.” Junior Chandler Eckert, another volunteer, stated “It was a great way to maximize donations, volunteers and involvement!”

Through “Hearts in Action: A Day for All,” Bell successfully raised awareness about these various issues and provided students with a platform to give them tangible ways to help. When Gold Dining Hall closed that night at 7 p.m., attendees and volunteers left with a sense of accomplishment, knowing they had made a difference in the world and supported these organizations in a meaningful way. We thank Payton Bell and the Civic Leadership Program for spearheading powerful initiatives such as this on our campus.