MARYVILLE, Tenn. — There are still several days before the start of the fall semester at Maryville College. But on Tuesday, students got a head start on working with the community.
Some students with the Center for Community Engagement gathered to make blankets for the New Hope Children's Advocacy Center. The Blount County nonprofit works with children who are victims of abuse, helping spark hope and healing so they can recover from trauma.
The students met some of the children at the Martin Luther King Community Center. They played together and gave out snacks, giving the children a fun day at the park.
On Wednesday, the Maryville College students also helped out at Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee.
"Such community service work is a condition of their financial aid, but like so many of our students, over time doing good on the largest possible scale becomes less of an obligation and more of a moral responsibility," the school said on social media. "None of us exist in a vacuum. Not Maryville College or those of us who learn and work here."