The Hardin-Simmons University Baptist Student Ministries Leadership Team will be hosting a fall festival this Saturday for neighbors living all around the campus. The festival takes place at the North Park Friendship House, Saturday, October 27, 2012, from 3 – 5 p.m.
Director of Baptist Student Ministries, John Hunt and his team of students, have been collecting bags of candy from members of the HSU faculty and staff this week. “All of our friends and neighbors in the community are invited, as well as HSU faculty and staff and their families,” says Hunt. “We are planning a costume party, a cupcake walk, and lots of games and prizes.”
HSU’s former dean of students, Linda Carleton, helped to start the Friendship House just north of the campus eight years ago, which has turned into a community gathering place with future plans for a playground and park on the block bordered by Hickory and Lowden streets.
Connecting Caring Communities oversees the neighborhood gathering place that offers volunteer opportunities to HSU students, staff, and faculty. Among the programs offered at the Friendship House are children’s after-school programs, youth after-school programs, and neighborhood adult luncheons.
Campus and community neighbors participate in several events throughout the school year, including the annual back-to school party in which children living in the neighborhood get to choose their very own backpack filled with school supplies.