Cadet Interfaith Council accepts president's community service challenge

  • Published
  • By Don Branum
  • Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFNS) --  The Cadet Interfaith Council here kicked off an outreach partnership with a Colorado Springs food bank Aug. 27, answering President Barack Obama's challenge to colleges to become involved in interfaith cooperation and community service.

Council members and chaplains spent two hours at Care and Share Food Bank of Southern Colorado packing and palletizing boxes for distribution to families in need of assistance.

The U.S. Air Force Academy's involvement began earlier this year, when Chaplain (Capt.) Shawn Menchion, the branch chief of the Academy chapel's plans and programs division, received an email outlining the program. He drafted a plan for the Academy to participate and submitted it to Academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Mike Gould for approval.

"We have a three-year strategic plan," Menchion said. "In year one, we'll conduct interfaith service projects and host dialogs to foster interfaith cooperation at the Academy."

The interfaith council consists of representatives from each of the Academy's religious and philosophical groups. Some of the groups represented include Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists and followers of earth-centered spirituality. Cadet 1st Class Philicia Fahrenbruch, the council president, attended the White House's Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge meeting in Washington D.C., on Aug. 3.

"It was really interesting to talk to other schools and hear what they've done," Fahrenbruch said. "It was great to see everyone coming together, hearing new ideas and seeing the interfaith cohesiveness."

Subsequent years will see the interfaith council widen the scope of its activities, including working with local colleges' and cities' interfaith organizations as well as entering dialogs on how the Academy can continue to improve its religious-respect climate, Menchion said.

"We'll talk about barriers that can prevent us from working together to meet the community's needs," Menchion said. "The only way we can cross barriers is to talk about the commonalities our communities have in service to humanity."

The President's Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge invites colleges to commit to at least one year of interfaith cooperation and community service programming on campus, according to the White House's website. The Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and the Corporation for National and Community Service will evaluate participating institutions' initiatives on their plans implementation by based on several guidelines, including how initiatives involve cross-campus support and identifying how initiatives advance institutions' abilities to engage diversity and build a culture of interreligious and intercultural cooperation. The White House will recognize the most exemplary initiatives in the summer of 2012.