A student, Chris Meadows, is putting meaning being the Uni-versity’s slogan: “Come to learn, go to serve.” He is a sophomore, Elementary Education major and Bonner Scholar with a heart full of compassion. Meadows is spearheading a campaign to spread his love of Christmas with people throughout the year.
“Share the Love” started because of my deep love of Christmas. During the Christ- mas 2013 season I made Christmas ornaments and took them with me during school, hospital, and nursing home visits. After seeing the reaction to people receiving these Christmas ornaments and how it made them feel I wanted to come up with ways for it to continue,” Meadows explains.
Kathy Ball, Director of Bonner Scholars, pushed Meadows to find a project that Love Campaign, working to ment in many ways. ‘I think he could create to continue his love of Christmas year round. The first few weeks of 2014 he spent working on an idea for a heart campaign or some way to spread love with people throughout the year.
“On February 14th I was ready to give out my first hearts; they were Valentine’s Day themed and went to people in nursing homes. Over the next few weeks I structured the program a bit and it became the Share the spread love with others.”
In just a little over six month, Meadows’ initiative has ex- panded significantly. In mid- October, the campaign will have sent over 1000 ornaments throughout the world. Every state in America has received a heart, along with six countries: Germany, Australia, Nicaragua, Switzerland, India, and Japan. Meadows finds inspiration in a quote by Princess Diana. He says, “It is my mission statement in many ways. I think the biggest disease the world suffers from in this day and age is the disease of people feeling unloved.’”
His goal for Share the Love is to to go out and find new ways to show love to people. He says, “I think we sometimes need to be reminded that strangers can love and care for you. If we have more of that in our society I believe we will begin to see a change in people’s hearts.”