Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University’s Tiger Serve Day, one of the largest community service efforts in Arkansas, made another huge impact last week for the benefit of the Arkadelphia community.

A total of 950 students, faculty and staff gathered at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27, in preparation for the semi-annual community service blitz. Volunteers were organized into 115 teams that completed 117 work projects throughout the Arkadelphia area.

“Tiger Serve Day represents the best of Ouachita from the beginning when teams pick up tools and head to projects to the end when they come back with full hearts and some great stories,” said Judy Duvall, assistant director of Ouachita’s Ben M. Elrod Center for Family and Community.

“We were able to serve the community with a variety of projects which included painting, raking, trimming bushes, washing cars and cleaning windows,” Duvall added. “We were able to serve many senior adults and various nonprofit organizations around town.”

Saturday’s event marks the 36th Tiger Serve Day since the emphasis began in the spring of 1997. Over the past 17 years, Ouachita students, faculty and staff have logged more than 69,000 hours of community service through Tiger Serve Day.

Haley Dahl, a senior biology major from Red Oak, Texas, has participated in every Tiger Serve Day since her freshman year. “There is something special about uniting with your friends to go out and love on the community of Arkadelphia,” she said. “Every semester I look forward to serving with my friends and meeting new people in the community through Tiger Serve Day.”

“We are committed to developing graduates who are servant leaders, and Tiger Serve Day is all about discovering the joy and power of serving others,” said Ian Cosh, vice president for community and international engagement. “Tiger Serve Day shows what it means to put our compassion into action as Christians and Ouachitonians.”

Sponsors for this year’s event include Sodexo, which provided breakfast and lunch for volunteers, and Vision Source Arkadelphia, which served as the advertising sponsor. For more information about Tiger Serve Day, contact the Elrod Center at (870) 245-5320.



Photos by Tyler Rosenthal