By Colter Hettich, Features Editor

The service committee from the recently established ACU staff senate has already planned its first major service effort. The service committee teamed with a committee from the Student Action Leadership Team (SALT), to involve more faculty than ever before in the 9th annual ACU for Abilene.

The administration established the first-ever staff senate in June 2007. The new senate then created committees within the senate, one of them being the service committee. Once elected, committee members elected Tim Evans, customer assistance manager of the Campus Store, as the chair. Karen Viertel, coordinator of Student Services, and Gaye May, administrative coordinator for the communications department, will also work with Evans on the committee.

“The faculty senate has existed for sometime,” Evans said. “But this new senate will get more staff members involved on campus.”

Evans sees ACU for Abilene 2008 as the service committee’s “first big opportunity” and is excited about seeing all castes of ACU’s community serving together.

“This year’s ACU for Abilene will allow [staff members] to work side-by-side with students, particularly students involved in SALT,” Evans said.

ACU for Abilene materialized in April 2000 as a way for ACU to give back to its community. For the one-day event, volunteers assist in a variety of services, including neighborhood walks, working at preselected sites and helping Habitat for Humanity.

Terri Crites, junior math education major and chair of the ACU for Abilene committee, said ACU for Abilene is the biggest service day of the year for SALT.

“Everybody comes together like one, big, happy family,” Crites said.

But the big “family” reunion typically misses a few members.

“We have hundreds of students, but last year we had 30 staff members at most,” Crites said. “Our big push this year is to involve as many staff members as possible.”

Evans met with SALT, which is already designing Tshirts and planning the kickoff, last week to collaborate and discuss strategies. Evans has committed to attend SALT’s weekly meetings to ensure the staff involvement both parties are looking for. At last week’s meeting, Crites said staff representatives seemed enthusiastic.

“We are really excited about turnout this year,” Crites said. “I think ACU for Abilene will be much more productive.”

Evans said that while the service committee explores new opportunities for ACU staff to serve, it hopes to set the precedence for future endeavors with April’s event.

“[The Bible] tells us that Jesus came as a servant and left us an example by how he lived,” Evans said. “I think everyday should be about service and changing people’s lives.”