In Latin, the word “creare” means “to create” and here at LMU, this word is now the foundation of a brand new service organization and the basis of its goal: “to create a brighter future for today’s youth.”
Creare is the brainchild of sophomore history major Vanessa Hinkle, who didn’t find a place in any existing service organization, so decided to create one of her own. Hinkle pitched the idea to sophomore engineering major Hannah Thames and the two developed the idea and proposed it to the Center for Service and Action. Along the way, Hinkle, Creare’s president, and Thames, vice president, enlisted the help of sophomores Matt Rice, a film production major, and Brad Johnson, an international business major, asking them to join Creare’s executive board. After a long approval process spanning all of spring and summer of 2009, Creare will begin recruiting students with other service organizations in the spring semester of 2010.
“We started Creare because we felt the need for a new co-ed service organization on campus. Some service organizations have over 175 applicants and can only accept around 20 new members. We feel like people who want to do service should have the opportunity to do so, hence the need to start a new service organization,” said Thames.
Hinkle and Thames chose to focus on today’s youth because it is a cause both are passionate about and one that no other LMU campus service organization has solely targeted yet.
“We didn’t want to have a service org that was just a cluster with no direction. Concentrating on today’s youth helped us pick sites that we knew would be fun and meaningful,” said Hinkle.
So far, Creare plans to work with the Boys and Girls Club of Venice and the Mar Vista Family Center, where LMU students will have the opportunity to tutor, coach and mentor children. Creare will also be working at Ascension School, a Catholic elementary school in South Central, L.A., where they have lined up jobs as librarians, teachers’ aides and tutors to create opportunities otherwise unattainable for children without volunteers.
“I think Creare is a great opportunity for students to come into an organization and immediately be able to make a difference, both in the service aspects and in terms of the organization itself. We have no history to pull an identity from, so we truly are going to be defined and shaped by our members. I think that’s what really made me consider being part of Creare,” said Johnson.
Tom King, assistant director of campus service, was Thames and Hinkle’s contact throughout the long approval process. “After recruitment, many students come with the intention of starting a new service organization, but they usually dissipate. This group of students really stuck with it. They presented an excellent eight page constitution detailing their plans. It’s an organization I’m excited about and grateful for as it gives more students the opportunity to get involved.”
“We want anyone and everyone to apply,” said Hinkle. “The opportunities we have at each site are going to be great. Creare is going to be what [the new recruits] make it.”
Students are encouraged to attend All Service Org Night on Feb. 3 in Burns BackCourt. Creare will begin interviewing on Feb. 21.
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