An international service fraternity on campus organized the Lauren Lau Day of Community Service in memory of brother Lauren Lau ’19, who died in 2016.

Katie Knothe ’19, vice president of service for the fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega (APO), organized the day-long event in hopes of “doing something related to service instead of being sad for a day.”

The event began in Stern Great Room at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 28 with a short speech from Knothe.

“We didn’t want it to be just a sad event; we want to gather together even two years later to meet new people, learn about them, bond together and do service,” said Knothe in her introduction. “Lauren was a very active member of our organization and inspired everyone around her to make every smile real [and] honest and to care about people around you in a way that no matter what, people are [going to] remember you as someone who did everything they could for others.”

Over 30 students participated in various service events planned throughout the day, which included cleaning up at St. Paul Lutheran Church and the Carlisle YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association), helping out with religious service at the Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, and kitten cuddling and dog walking around the Carlisle community. Students and members of the Dickinson community also stopped by the Stern Great Room to make appreciation cards throughout the day for emergency first-responders and children at Camp Koala, a camp that helps children dealing with grief, according to Camp Koala’s website.  

“Helping the community in her name is something special. It can get everyone and anyone involved in what APO does as a service fraternity,” said Eliza Grigsby ’22, a member of APO who helped out at YWCA.

Another student, Jalee Lopez ’21, who is a service coordinator at Center of Service, Spirituality and Social Justice (CS3), said “As a member of another service organization, I wanted to support the good cause of volunteerism, especially in honor of Lauren Lau. Although I didn’t know her personally, I could feel the impact she left on the APO chapter at Dickinson when Katie [Knothe] spoke about her.” Lopez helped walk three foster dogs with another student and “it was heartwarming to see one of the dogs who had cancer excited to see a new face.” Lopez added, “In the end, it felt like it was more [of a] service to me because of the quality time I spent with the dogs.”