JENNIFER RIXMAN

Jennifer Rixman is an inspiration to her classmates. Throughout the four years she has been a student at Manchester College, Jennifer has demonstrated a commitment to service that is second-to-none. As part of, and in addition to her campus leadership role as Director of Communications for the col1ege’s Office of Volunteer Services, Jennifer has organized and participated in countless volunteer efforts in the community and beyond.

Jennifer is adept at finding innovative ways to meet the needs of others. One example is Haunted Forest, a fun Halloween activity cosponsored by the col1ege’s Office of Volunteer Services and North Manchester Community Service Parks and Recreation. She was responsible for recruiting enough student volunteers to staff the forest, which included costumed tour guides, assorted ghosts, ghouls and monsters, a set-up and teardown crew, and registration table volunteers. In addition, she mobilized and organized several campus groups and clubs who participated as haunted forest sites. Registration volunteers col1ected a smal1 entrance fee and the proceeds went to North Manchester Community Service.

Jennifer has also worked to fight hunger and homelessness. She helped organize a petition to end hunger, Offering of Letters for Jubilee 2000, Give Up a Meal Day (students skipped one meal, and food service donated the money to Oxfam America and Heifer Project International), and a service project (students raked leaves and sorted clothing at the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission). She also helped recruit students to raise money to provide food for those in need.

She organized several on-campus blood drives for the American Red Cross, helped organize and participated in a food drive that brought 35 student volunteers together to col1ect needed food and supplies for the North Manchester Food Pantry, and spent two spring breaks in West Virginia & Mississippi helping to build homes for families in need with Habitat for Humanity.

She also organized service projects and performed important services at several organizations, including South Bend Homeless Shelter, Fort Wayne Rescue Mission, Tumstone Center for Disabled Children and Adults, Fort Wayne Food Bank, and Path Finder’s Group Home. Services included raking leaves, sorting food and clothing, and fundraising.

Jennifer Rixman is especial1y good at connecting with student volunteers to help them understand the importance of service, and to motivate them to actively participate. Although she is graduating this spring, she has planted the seeds for further volunteer opportunities at Manchester College.