Dr. Carolyn Dirksen with children in Liberia
Lee University’s “Dee Lavender Missions Week,” will be held Oct. 24-28, raising funds for the Phebe Grey Orphanage in Liberia, Africa, for the second year in a row.
The orphanage was founded in 1996 by a team of missionaries who desired to help children affected by the country’s violent civil wars. Today, the Phebe Grey Orphanage has expanded, having its own school and church, but lacks the necessary resources to meet the high demand for shelter in the area.
Missions Week will bring special chapel services to campus. The first chapel service will be a time of celebration. On Thursday, Oct. 27, Dr. Carolyn Dirksen, director of faculty development and distinguished professor of English, will share about the university’s projects and ongoing work in the Phebe Grey Orphanage.
“Missions Week is one of my favorite times of the year at Lee University!” said Campus Pastor Jimmy Harper. “I get excited when our campus community can come together as a family to bring impact to a project around the world, especially one as important as the Phebe Grey Orphanage in Liberia.”
The funds raised during Missions Week will help provide the orphanage with a steady operating budget. Donations, special offerings in chapel, and Missions Week T-shirt sales are the main fund raisers.
Students and faculty are also working on special projects across several different departments on campus that will contribute.
Associate Lecturer in Special Education Alex Sandoval and his class are developing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) boxes as a way for science students to learn “hands on.”
Dr. Mava Wilson, associate professor of computer information systems, is working with her class to refurbish and reprogram computers for the school’s computer lab.
Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society, and the Young Adult Literature class, taught by Dr. Donna Summerlin, are collecting books to contribute to the library, which was originally installed last summer.
Dr. Dirksen and her Biblical and Theological Foundations for Benevolence class are working together to build teaching materials for a health promotion class at the school.
The Community Psychology class, taught by associate professor of psychology Dr. Heather Quagliana, is developing a transition plan for the children at the orphanage who finish high school and reach the age of 18. They are also creating training materials so that the orphanage workers can be better equipped to deal with issues of childhood trauma.
According to Dr. Dirksen, these are just a few examples of the projects in which students and faculty are involved. Other departments are also working to contribute to the orphanage, school, and church.
“We believe that our continued partnership with the Phebe Grey Orphanage can help bring about sustainability and stability and make a lasting impact that will change the lives of children and a nation for eternity,” said Becky Stevens, Campus Ministries secretary.
Since 1991, Missions Week has been carried out in honor of Lee University student Dee Lavender, who died on a summer mission trip to Panama just before her 21st birthday. Missions Week projects have been in place for more than 20 years, and a week devoted to missions has been part of Lee programming since the ‘40s.
For more information about Missions Week or to make a donation, visit http://www.leeuniversity.edu/missions-week/ or contact Campus Ministries at 614-8420.
The Liberia Anthropology Research team at the Phebe Grey Orphanage during a summer 2016 trip