This spring, a White House news release cited the efforts of Ohio University’s interfaith coalition as a success of the Interfaith and Community Service Challenge, a project that will relaunch next week.
The reassembled coalition recently adopted a new moniker: Better Together at Ohio University. Accepting the nationwide challenge to take on community-service initiatives, it will work to alleviate domestic poverty and international water shortage.
Rachel Hyden, co-leader of OU’s campaign, says she hopes it will ignite excitement for students.
“It’s not just Ohio University doing this,” said Hyden, a senior studying public relations. “Universities all over the country are trying to start this interfaith movement.”
Evan Young, campus minister of United Campus Ministries, said even though the campaign is deeply rooted in community service, it also challenges students to consider the interfaith movement as something relevant to them.
“The things you do always have a moral, ethical, spiritual component to them. You are always acting according to your beliefs,” Young said. “Your task is to reconcile the things you say you believe with the things you actually do.”
Hyden said many students shy away from the word “interfaith” because they do not understand that it encompasses people with and without spiritual conviction.
“I don’t really have a religion, but I believe in doing good for people,” she said. “Helping those who are not as privileged as I am — that’s my religion.”
Hyden was trained at the Interfaith Leadership Institute in Washington, D.C., this past summer with Young, co-leader of the Better Together campaign.
Shea Daniels, a senior studying English, coordinates the coalition’s free-lunch program, which serves locally grown food and, last year, prepared 5,000 meals.
Daniels said the feeding of spiritual hunger is manifested through the value of a physical meal.
“We’re just helping people out,” Hyden said. “That’s what we do.”
cd234008@ohiou.edu
