The pandemic changed us all in one way or another.

For some, it meant ceasing activity, stopping service, putting everything on pause. For others, it meant getting creative, adjusting our norms, and forging forward. 

Like all ABHE schools, the curriculum at the Institute for G.O.D. includes a practical ministry training program that enhances classroom learning with real-life experience.

At the Institute, our Student Volunteer Program keeps our students actively engaging the surrounding Nashville community, especially vulnerable populations, while receiving expert feedback in the ministry skills. Institute students volunteer in youth groups, teach English to refugees, assist the elderly, teach Sunday school, facilitate after-school programs, kids camps, and more. 

But volunteering during the pandemic had significant challenges. The elderly and immigrant and refugee populations were the most at risk -- both by COVID and being forgotten. 

So when it came to choosing between pausing or getting creative, our students, alongside their mentors and service facilitators at G.O.D. International chose the latter.

Students who were invested in after-school programs wrote letters to the middle schoolers they could no longer see. At the end of 2020, Institute students surprised CASE kids with a party-in-a-bucket to still celebrate. 

Institute for G.O.D. students teaching English to refugees, along with G.O.D. volunteers, spent the first few months of shutdown helping newcomers access educational resources about COVID-19.

Institute students assisted them in signing up for various relief programs, delivered donations, and did training and trial runs to transition English Language Learning online. The pandemic brought with it a rent spike that dispersed Nashville refugee populations further away from their families and communities. Zoom rooms kept them together until they could meet again. Our immigrant and refugee friends received no break in programming during the pandemic.

Institute for G.O.D. students were particularly concerned with the elderly.

We've formed a special relationship with our neighbors at Chippington Towers in Madison. Institute for G.O.D. students volunteer there weekly, and the office manager tells us it is the highlight of their week. Before the pandemic, students were up close and personal with the residents, providing muscle and elbow grease to do essential home improvements or cleaning. 

After the most intense parts of the shutdown, when students also wrote letters to residents, volunteers returned for spaced moments together in the Chippington lobby. Carl Cook, Lily McDaniel, Gerron Norman, Amelia Harrison, Emily Marotta, and others would load their instruments into the car and drive over to Chippington Towers. When they realized their musical tastes weren't exactly a match for the residents, they did what G.O.D. Director of Social Services Rosemary Sherrod taught them -- "listen first." Rosemary often warns Institute students against getting busy with service but first, to pay attention to the person in front of them by listening to how they would want to be served. In this moment, that required them to learn how to play Old Rugged Cross, In the Garden, Because He Lives, and countless older hymns.

"Listening first" led to a first-ever photoshoot for all the residents after one of them mentioned to Carl how he didn't have any photos of himself. He explained how he would like to give some to his family. (Recently, volunteers returned with framed photos as gifts.) 

A front-page article in The Tennessean (Tennesse’s largest newspaper) featured Lily and Carl for the creative ways they continued to serve the elderly through music. Lily reflects, "It's been something to show them; hey, we haven't forgotten about you. Since COVID started, we haven't forgotten that you're still struggling with what you're struggling with. We still see you. We still know you. We still want to be with you." 

The pandemic did well to show us what was in us -- how strong we are, how much we need each other, how committed we are, and how we'll respond when things aren't easy.

As a college, we were very proud of our students' volunteerism. They proved to us that it wasn't just about fulfilling a responsibility. They're developing a heart of service that isn't fading away when service becomes inconvenient. The creative re-imagining of service and our students' committed efforts to show their Nashville neighbors their worth are beautiful signs of our students' development in Christ. 

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