This weekend, 120 students spent time painting murals, clearing lots and pruning trees throughout West Philadelphia as part of the biannual CHORDS Service Weekend.
Members of a variety of campus organizations — including 15 religious organizations and community service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega — took part in the nine different projects on Saturday and Sunday.
While many projects involved physical labor, one group at Mt. Zion Baptist Church — near 50th Street and Woodland Avenue — was tasked with interviewing church members in the neighborhood for a video commemorating the church’s 97th anniversary. At Metropolitan Baptist Church near Baring and 35th streets, students painted a mural.
“We’re trying to establish a relationship with these communities and get Penn students interested in interfaith activities,” CHORDS Chairwoman and College junior Allie Fuchs said. “The projects went really well and we’ll be able to form good partnerships because of them.”
“This was an educational opportunity for the students to see the work that goes on in these organizations, as well as an introduction to West Philadelphia,” Associate Chaplain Stephen Kocher added.
A Management 100 team assisted CHORDS with planning the logistics and publicizing the event. “We also tried to foster discussions about diversity and interfaith issues … and [whether or not] people of different of faiths [can] work together,” Wharton freshman Angela Rice said. Rice, who volunteered at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, helped paint part of the church and clear its lot. “It’s amazing to see how quickly 10 people can get the job done,” she said.
The Management 100 group will also compile data from the event based on feedback from participants that will be submitted to The President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge.
Initiated over a decade ago through a partnership with the Office of the Chaplain and the Netter Center for Community Partnership, the CHORDS program was originally known as Programming in Universities, Communities of Faith, Schools and Neighborhood Organizations. It was renamed in 2007 to reflect the goal of “getting groups that usually wouldn’t work together to collaborate in harmony,” Kocher said.
