Kim Williams
Features Editor
For students who are interested in trying to make an impact or doing something good, there’s a new club this semester which might be appealing: Advocacy Team.
Freshman Mara Seibert, junior Bobby Baker, and senior Rebecca Odegaard, the co-founders of the group, were inspired after attending a conference. Seibert said, “The club came about due to a global missions conference we attended in December called Urbana.”
Baker said, “At this conference, the other co-leaders and I were exposed to the injustice that takes place everyday both internationally and in our backyards.”
After the conference, the co-founders did not simply return to McDaniel and carry on as usual. Instead, they used their experience to come up with the idea for a new club. Baker said, “We hope to make a difference in the world or maybe just in our little town by advocating legislatures for those without a voice, collecting food for the hungry, using our consumerism to discourage injustice and most of all spreading awareness so that those with more resources may do the same.”
The group has already been very busy. Baker said, “So far, we have made food for a YANA (You Are Never Alone), a program that offers support for former prostitutes and trafficked women, on a biweekly basis, we have mass called Maryland State Senators and Delegates to lobby for the passage of human trafficking bills, and we have conducted research on the products in the school store to determine whether the school is selling slave made goods.”
As shown through the leaders’ attendance of a Christian missions conference, Odegaard said “one of our big motivations is our faith. We do pray at the end of each meeting.”
However, everyone should feel more than welcome to attend meetings. Odegaard said, “You don’t have to have a faith to come.”
Baker added, “We’re affiliated with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and have received a lot of support through them-at the start that’s where we got the base of our members. Since then however, it’s branched out and others are also hearing about what we’re doing!”
The Advocacy Team is also planning a Justice Week. Seibert said, “Justice Week will be from April 5-9 and each day will focus on a different human justice issue. The idea is to make the campus aware and involved in human justice issues and to spread awareness about Advocacy Team.”
In addition to checking out Justice Week, Seibert said, “You can also join Advocacy Team, where we have weekly meetings every Tuesday night from 9-10 alternatively in Hill 110 and North Village PA 201, suite 101.”
Seibert said, “We’ve committed to always do something productive, whether it be making food, signing petitions, researching, making calls or planning future events. So you’ll never come to a pointless meeting!”
Odegaard said, “We made a promise to do something every Tuesday.” Anyone who would like to make that same promise and get involved should be sure to attend a meeting Tuesday night.
