Junior Chris Howdeshell spreads mulch at Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas with Beta Upsilon Chi last Saturday as a part of community service day. CASEY LEE/The Daily Campus

Various SMU students spent Halloween day helping various agencies in the Dallas area for SMU’s Community Service Day.

Participants met at the flagpole at 9:45 a.m. for check-in and loaded the buses around 10:30 a.m. to head to their designated locations.

The majority of the participants were from SMU’s Greek community, whose time and effort not only went to the service projects, but also to support their homecoming candidates by earning points.

Each group was assigned a separate service project, with events ranging from manual labor to playing with children.

Marni Thomas, a member of Alpha Chi Omega, was in a group assigned to Meals on Wheels.

“We wrapped bars of soap in Christmas paper for gift bags the families will receive, along with a hot meal around the holidays,” Thomas said. “I had a great time, and I really enjoyed the experience.”

The projects lasted anywhere from two to three hours, with the buses returning to campus around 2:30 p.m.

Lena Derisavifard, a member of Delta Gamma, got a lot out of the experience.

“We helped set up for a Halloween carnival at the Dallas Children’s Theater. I hung up decorations and it was really great to get involved in the community,” she said. “It was very rewarding to see the children’s reactions to all of our hard work.”

Austin Poynter, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, also contributed to helping children.

“We went to an after school tutoring center for grade school children and painted the walls a variety of bright colors. We had an awesome time and ended up having a paint war halfway through the project,” he said.

Children weren’t the only ones to show gratitude.

“The teachers were very appreciative and I know we made a real difference,” Poynter said.

Community Service Day was an opportunity for SMU students to help beyond our campus. With those who were helped showing great appreciation, it appears that students really can make a difference.