Weekend Campaigns organizes weekend trips to serve people in communities.

The student organization takes three or four weekend trips per semester around cities in Texas and Oklahoma. This semester the trips will take place at Texas Ramp Project, Medina Children’s Home and Shiloh Ranch Ministries. The campaigns help children, families, and disabled adults.

Mary Beth Cuevas, previously known as their weekend campaign advisor but now an academic advisor, said, “The idea behind the Weekend Campaigns is for people to learn that they can put others before themselves and have a servant heart.”

Cuevas said as each generation of students become involved, the organization evolves and grows. She said she loves seeing how students “own” the Weekend Campaigns and make it what it is.

Sharaie Andrusak, senior business management major from Kansas, who has been a member for four years, now plans the trips as a leader and helps take students on buses.

“Weekend Campaigns is an organization on campus where we really want to live out the motto of ACU,” said Andrusak. “We want to be able to serve people in the community, but we also want to be able to go out and be able to spread our name and be part of other places.”

The leaders of the Weekend Campaigns choose the locations for the year but Andrusak said sometimes they choose the same ones because those communities look forward to see them every year, such as Brookewood Community, Medina Children’s Home and Luther Community Service Center in Oklahoma.

Andrusak said her favorite part of the Weekend Campaigns is when she gets recognized by the communities they visit and seeing students becoming friends, connecting with other people and enjoying the trips.

The organization also likes to stay local by helping with Abilene’s Global Samaritan and Love and Care Ministries.

However, Andrusak said she wants the Weekend Campaigns to grow and become more known by doing better advertisements and raising more funds.

“It’s a really neat opportunity for people to get to know other places in Texas, to be able to serve other people and be served,” said Andrusak.

Chyenne Haden, senior social studies education major from Abilene, helps the Weekend Campaigns by organizing the trips, reading and sending emails.

Haden said anyone can sign up, it’s not exclusive, and there are no fees but there are limited spaces.

The previous weekend trip took place in Brookwood Community, a community for adults with disabilities. “They have these exercise routines that we do those with them,” said Haden. “They invite us to their homes to eat lunch; we just spend time getting to know them, and then at night they ask us to put on a show for them or they will put on a show for us.”

“Weekend campaigns is a time for students to think of someone other than themselves,” said Cuevas. “I saw students grow so much!”

If you’re interested in the Weekend Campaigns, email weekendcampaigns@gmail.com.