Students participate in the kickoff of Heritage Day. Photo by Rey Gabriel ’28
A decade of Heritage Day culminated in a record number of volunteers this year as 1,336 Moravian University students, faculty, and staff participated in a single day of community service that has become one of the university’s most celebrated traditions.
During an unseasonably cool morning last Thursday, volunteers gathered on John Makuvek Field, their excitement building as they waited to board buses that would take them to more than 50 volunteer sites across the Lehigh Valley.
“Ten years ago, in 2016, this university did something a lot of institutions discuss, and very few actually do. We canceled class. We closed the offices. We asked the entire campus to go be useful somewhere in our city for a day,” said President Bryon Grigsby ’90, P’22, P’26, P’29, addressing the crowd.
“There was no guarantee this would take. Plenty of good ideas on college campuses last only one year. Heritage Day is now ten years old this morning, and in that decade, Moravian has been among the leaders in the entire Lehigh Valley in single-day service hours.”
Last year’s Heritage Day drew about 1,200 participants who logged more than 3,000 hours of community service, addressing issues such as youth support, housing insecurity, food insecurity, environmental sustainability, mental health, and elder-care support. The day also included the Clay Street Shelter in Lancaster, where a group of seminarians volunteered.
Nicole Loyd, executive vice president for university life, chief operating officer, and dean of students, helped plan the first Heritage Day on September 21, 2016. She is most proud of how Heritage Day has evolved. It started as a day for Moravian University to teach its community about the university’s history of service and evolved into a day of volunteering that community partners have come to count on, she said.
When asked about this year’s record turnout, Loyd attributes it to three things: The university leaned into the 10th anniversary during this past year of planning; they included more volunteer sites than ever with 54 locations planned; and the event has become a well-known tradition.
“I think students genuinely want this now, it’s become something they expect to be a part of rather than something we ask them to do,” she said.
The Volunteers
Aubrey Henritzy, Moravian’s executive coordinator for development, has been participating in Heritage Day for five years. “This is one of the best days of the entire year. It’s really great to see the community come together,” she said.
On Thursday, Henritzy was part of a group of volunteers who planned to go to the Third Street Alliance, a women’s shelter in Easton that provides services for women and children.
For some students, such as Jelisse Zorrilla ’30, it was their first time volunteering.
“I didn’t really know what Heritage Day was about at first, but now that I know it’s about giving back to your community, I’m happy to be involved, and there are a lot of people here to do that today,” Zorrilla said.
She planned to volunteer for Access Services, a nonprofit with locations throughout eastern Pennsylvania that serves people in need of specialized support, including behavioral health, housing, and respite services.
Connor Miller ’30, a first-year student from Bowling Green, Kentucky, and a member of the men’s golf team, was also among this year’s newest Heritage Day participants.
“When I heard about Heritage Day, I thought, this is a great thing we’re doing for the community,” Miller said.
He and his teammates planned to pick up litter and garden in Southside Bethlehem. Outside of Heritage Day, Miller has volunteered for organizations such as the Salvation Army.
“I personally volunteer, so I thought it was a good thing to have an event where the whole focus was to get involved,” he said.
Sophomore Andy Zakowski ’29 was excited to return for his second Heritage Day. This year he planned to do site work for the Moravian Historical Society in Nazareth.
“I honestly love Heritage Day,” Zakowski said. “I think it’s such a good thing for the university to do. It brings people together.”
Before the volunteers departed, Grigsby thanked them for showing up.
“You gave up your Thursday, and you did it without being asked twice,” he said. “Ten years in, the tradition holds. Our neighbors deserve it. This university can do it, and for a decade of Heritage Days we have kept doing it. Go serve! It’s a great day to be a Hound.”—Christina Tatu
Photos by Nick Chismar ’20, Rey Gabriel ’28, Sophia Jezewski ’28