By Brittany Otero
Copy Editor
At 11 a.m. on Feb. 10, the Cameron Campus Ministry (CCM) hosted lunch in the Shepler Center’s Wichita Room.
The event lasted until 12:30 p.m.; CCM Director Kacie Scherler and CCM Coordinator Peter Macias also invited students to write Valentine’s Day cards for veterans.
Scherler said that these lunches are just one way for the organization to help make the world a better place.
“Every Monday,” she said, “we serve lunch here in the Wichita Room, 11 to 12:30, except we really are ready at about 10 a.m. because some students come by early before class. So, we try to make it possible for as many people to get here as possible.
“We really just want to be a safe space for people of all beliefs, as well as people who don’t really align themselves to any particular faith,” Scherler said. “The thing that we want to be the root of our organization is loving people and being a place for them to come and ask questions.”
Macias said that he always looks forward to preparing the lunch.
“It’s one of the highlights of the week, really, for me,” he said. “To get to make all these sandwiches, deliver them, give them to the students. We have snacks, granola bars, chips — besides fruit — that go with the sandwich. And water and soda. The students have the big choice of eating, and I’m sure they appreciate it.”
Sports & Exercise sophomore Tamaura Shelton said she attends CCM’s lunches often and loves everything that the organization does.
“For as long as I’ve known him, that’s been Peter’s biggest saying,” she said. “’We don’t want to make everybody a Christian; we just want to feed them.’ And, I mean, that’s how it should be. You don’t have to impress the gospel and everything on someone to feed them.”
Scherler said that after she became director, she noticed students dropping by for lunch and leaving immediately after.
“I thought it would be neat to have some sort of interactive component,” she said. “So, we just started. Last week and the week before, I made a big sheet of butcher paper and I did ‘write a change you wish to see in the world.’ We had lots of students write what their vision for the world would be, and it was so cool — I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
“I want to have an activity here every morning that gets students thinking and engaged with the community or some sort of global issue,” Scherler said. “What are the little things that we can do, or the little changes that we can make in our day-to-day lives, to make an impact? To get us where that greater vision is?”
Macias said that CCM does a variety of mission work.
“Besides being here on Monday, we’re also in the community,” he said. “We volunteer. We are active in activism. If there’s some kind of protest going on, we’re probably going to be there. Some of our representatives will go.”
Macias also said that the organization’s goal is not to bring students on a spiritual journey, but to show them love and inclusion.
“Sometimes,” he said, “a person feels like they’re all alone. On campus, even. They’ll think ‘no one knows me,’ so they feel excluded simply because of what they are. We don’t care what you are — we want you. We want you here because you have thoughts. You have ideas, and you have goals. You have dreams, and we want to share those dreams. We want to help make those dreams happen.” For more information about the Monday lunches and activities or CCM, contact Kacie Scherler at kacie.scherler@gmail.com.