By Abby Koch–This past Wednesday was the start of Lent for certain religious students on campus. Pastor Andy Nelson stood in the Olson lobby to do prayers and imposition of ashes for students. Along with doing prayers, Nelson handed out service bingo cards in the hopes of starting a new service tradition on campus.
Nelson is calling this new service activity “Love Thy Neighbor Bingo” which lasts from March 6 to April 21. “The bingo cards are designed in a way that you can do things on campus but can still challenge yourself with off campus service,” stated Nelson.
Nelson brainstormed numerous service activities before thinking up the bingo cards. “It went through a couple of different iterations like forty days of service and how would that look like to have people do service everyday or set a goal. And so I was inspired by the fact that Morningside students love to play bingo,” explained Nelson. “So I was thinking what would be a way to break it down to make it a little less daunting than saying ‘alright do service over the next forty days!’”
Students can pick up a bingo card from the campus ministry office or from the stack right outside the office. The bingo card is also available online with links to the service projects. Nelson encourages students to check out the links on the cards for ideas for service or substitutions.
Spaces can be filled with other services than what it says on the card. The link on the card is a good source of substitutions for services. Nelson explained that he is not picky when it comes to what students do for substitutions as long as it serves the community.
When bingo is completed in either horizontal, vertical, or diagonal, you can bring the card to Nelson for a prize. Nelson also wants the completed cards to have a small description of what you did written on the back.
Nelson encourages students to post their service photos to social media with #MsideServes in the caption with @MsideCampusMin or @MsideServes tagged.
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