His House Christian Fellowship has weekend of community service, enjoyment

A 2008 report from the Corporation for National and Community Service states only 23 percent of U.S. men have volunteered in the past year.
Andarius Taylor is not like most guys — the Saginaw senior volunteers every chance he gets.

Taylor devoted almost ten hours to volunteering last weekend.

“I’ll do whatever I can do to help out, I love to help people,” he said. “This is not for me, it’s for God.”

Taylor committed Friday to taking care of homeless animals and playing a game of capture the flag with children. Saturday, he served food at the Isabella Community Soup Kitchen, 621 S. Adams St., and raked leaves for the elderly.

He was not alone — Taylor was joined by about 200 other students divided into small groups that took turns participating in different volunteer activities Friday and Saturday. It was all part of His House Christian Fellowship’s third annual “Faith in Action” weekend.

South Canton senior Jasmine Wilson places a dish of squash in the oven for lunch Saturday morning as part of a volunteer project put together by His House Church at the Isabella Community Soup Kitchen, 621 S. Adams St. (Victoria Zegler/Staff Photographer)

Many students played with animals at the Isabella County Animal Shelter, 1105 S. Isabella Road. Each of the shelter’s 34 dogs was walked and entertained by the volunteers.

“Every dog is going to sleep so hard tonight,” said Toni Smith-Holmes, who regularly volunteers at the shelter. “I think every dog got walked two or three times a day.”

Working and serving

Clarkston junior Michelle Sun made a new friend at the animal shelter — a small, yellow kitten named Sparky.

Sparky clawed at her wrist, but Sun adored the cat nonetheless.

“He was just really fun,” Sun said. “He was really active and always running around.”

Howell sophomore Megan Hutchings said the leaf-raking teams raked 10 yards Friday. She said it would be impossible to guess how many pounds of leaves they raked.

“We had a lot of fun working together and serving at the same time,” Hutchings said.

Mount Pleasant resident Mary Bowers was one local who had her entire front and back yard raked.

“I think it’s wonderful they come out here and do this for us,” she said. “We’ve got leaves galore.”

At the soup kitchen Sunday, South Canton senior Jasmine Wilson helped prepare beef stew for lunch.

“Seeing people getting blessed by our services is the most rewarding part,” she said.