Brittany Dickerson, Indiana University Northwest cross country coach, said she encourages her team to give back to their community.
“If I can get them out here and involved with Gary and getting involved as a team, that’s really important to me,” Dickerson said Friday. “Today, we’re out here volunteering and representing IUN in a good way.”
Dickerson and her cross country athletes were just one group of volunteers that participated in IUN’s annual day of service Friday. Their group volunteered at Gary’s Faith Farms, feeding and caring for animals and mulching around the farm.
The day of service was originally scheduled for January, but it was rescheduled because of sub-zero temperatures.
James Wallace, director of IUN’s Office of Student and Community Engagement Planning, said more than 100 volunteers signed up for this year’s day of service.
“Our students are often on their own, serving a community in various capacities,” Wallace said. “This is a way for us to sort of bring them all together at once, to support them at work and celebrate the work they’re doing.”
Volunteers were assigned to one of six different work sites throughout Northwest Indiana, including Faith Farms, Sojourner Truth House and the Northwest Indiana Food Bank. The Faith Farms group started work at about 9 a.m. Friday and planned to stop at about noon.
“We’re trying to cultivate global citizens here on our campus and get them interested in what’s happening in their communities once they graduate,” Wallace said. “It makes us feel really good that our students are chomping at the bit to get out there.”
Freida Graves, director of Food is Medicine for Faith CDC, said her organization has worked with IUN for its day of service for several years. In addition to that, Faith Farms has worked with IUN medical students for about five years, Graves said, who come out to the farm once a month to help.
It’s important for Faith Farms to have a strong relationship with IUN, Graves said.
“That’s our community,” she added. “This helps us establish more community connections and have people understand why we do what we do in this area. … It’s important that we get people excited about what exactly we do out here and why we do it because that’s what’s in our hearts.”
Dickerson was surprised to see Faith Farms in the middle of Gary, she said.
“When we pulled up, I said, ‘I can’t believe there’s a farm in the middle of Gary,’” Dickerson said. “It’s cool to see people in a city get excited about nature and nurturing it in this way.”
IUN freshman Jackson VanVolkenburgh said he helped feed chickens and was allowed to hold some of them Friday morning. VanVolkenburgh said he was prepared to help with the animals but was surprised to see that Faith Farms was part of a church in the city.
“Honestly, I’ll do whatever comes at me, and I expected that we’d be feeding the animals,” he said. “Walking into a church threw me off, but in a great way. … I love getting to meet the people and hear about all the cool things they’re doing to serve the community.”
IUN junior Marwah Tarakey, who is the founder and president of IUNited, said she asked to volunteer at Faith Farms. IUNited is a student organization founded in the fall of 2024 that works to help address the needs of underserved communities in Northwest Indiana.
Tarakey has volunteered twice with the food bank through the day of service, and she met Graves and told her that she wanted to help with the farm.
“I have not seen a farm animal in probably over a decade,” Tarakey said. “It’s been really fun, and you get to see the hard work they do for the community.”
IUN senior Gabrielle Golston said she has wanted to volunteer more in the community. Golston didn’t know what she would do on Friday, but she said it was fun to help at Faith Farms.
She helped pick eggs from chicken coops and helped clean and store them for the farm.
“It’s really cool,” Golston said, “to see this, and all they’ve got. There’s goats, ducks and chickens, and I wasn’t expecting it.”
