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Students serve the community at 9/11 memorial event

Liberty University students volunteer at a 911 Memorial Stair Climb event in Lynchburg.
About 50 Liberty University students volunteered at Lynchburg’s first-ever 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb.

A surge of student volunteers from Liberty University’s Center for Christian/Community Service (CSER) is spreading out to serve the Lynchburg, Va., community this month.

In downtown Lynchburg, 50 students were recruited for the city’s first-ever 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. On Saturday, Sept. 13, more than 100 participants from the community scaled the staircases of the Bank of the James building on Main Street in honor of the 343 New York City firefighters who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Coordinated by Liberty alumnus Martin Misjuns, the event benefitted the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s counseling programs and the Central Virginia Burn Camp.

Local fire department worker Neil Patterson, who oversaw the volunteers, is a Liberty alumnus.

Across town, more than 30 students will partner with the Wingate hotel, the Circle K Club, and the Tau Sigma National Honor Society in an Adopt-a-Highway event to clean the stretch of Candlers Mountain Road spanning three miles up Liberty Mountain from the hotel. This event was originally scheduled to also take place on Saturday, however, it has been postponed to a later date due to weather.

“Our students aren’t just interested in getting an education, but they want to make a difference in the lives of our community members,” said CSER director Lew Weider.

As part of their graduation requirements, all residential students complete a minimum of 120 hours of CSER volunteer service. In 2013 alone, students served 375,000 hours with 3,000 individual organizations including local churches, charitable organizations, and other service projects.

Liberty students serve at the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb in Lynchburg.
Liberty students served while more than 100 participants — including Lynchurg firefighters — climbed the staircases of the Bank of the James building on Main Street in honor of the 343 New York City firefighters who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks..

At the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb, students and other community volunteers climbed 110 flights of stairs, the number of floors in both World Trade Center towers. The event was the first of several annual fundraisers of its kind, with Liberty’s volunteers playing an important role.

“We were contacted by those in the city for the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb because they knew that Liberty University cared about the community, and that our students wanted to be involved in helping to serve the community,” Weider said.

Students gathered at the Bank of the James building to help the flow of traffic, keep the walkers hydrated, assist with setup and teardown, clean, and provide encouragement.

Describing why he felt drawn to recruit help through the CSER program, Misjuns said he felt strongly that Liberty students are making a tangible impact on the city around them.

“The CSER program at Liberty is phenomenal and does a lot of great things for the community,” Misjuns said. “We share the same kind of passion for doing good things for the community that Liberty does. So if you’re going to be doing an event like this, there isn’t much of a better place to look for reaching like-minded, service-oriented individuals. What Liberty does for this community and the resources that it offers are incredible.”

Adopt-a-Highway cleanup efforts are one of several regular opportunities for students to beautify the community. Four times a year, 30-40 students attend the highway cleanup, earning CSER credit while helping eliminate litter from one of the area’s most traveled roads.

“Liberty puts an emphasis on servant learning,” Weider said. “It shows that our students aren’t just interested in getting an education, but that they want to make a difference in the lives of our community members, and we want them to know that we care about them as individuals. Our students are not just making traffic more congested — they are making a positive contribution in Lynchburg and the surrounding communities, as well as caring and meeting the needs of its citizens.”

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