Alyssa Helgesen - Service

    Hello!! My name is Alyssa Helgesen and I am a Business major with a minor in Sports Management. I am from just outside Seattle in Bellevue, WA. I am on the rowing team here at Gonzaga and love hiking, swimming, hanging out with friends, and watching One Tree Hill or The Bachelor on Mondays :)

    Out of the three pillars, the Service pillar has made the biggest impact on me. This past year I had the opportunity to volunteer for Catholic Charities in the CAPA program. We helped with whatever was needed that week so it was always a surprise what we were going to do! One of the tasks we did was sorting clothing donations, or anything else that could be helpful to people in need such as makeup for moms, blankets, diapers, baby supplies, games, etc. Another task was around spring time making goody bags that had sunflower kits to plant sunflowers and we got to decorate the bags we put them in. These are some of the activities we got to do and each thing was small but meant so much to the people receiving these things so it was amazing to see how the little things can add up to make a bigger impact. Seeing how thankful CAPA was to have us there every week made me so excited to go and leave there every week feeling like I made a difference in someone’s life. I am so thankful for Setons for giving me this experience to connect with the Spokane community and am thankful for CAPA for allowing us to have this amazing experience even in this crazy year.