Social Work Student Groups Help Renovate VA Center

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Volunteers from two social work student groups — Phi Alpha and SWAG — spent part of Dec. 15 cleaning, painting, stocking and organizing three underutilized rooms at Decision Point, which has partnered with the Veterans Affairs' substance-abuse care program to provide concurrent housing and life skills support for veterans recovering from substance abuse.

The Phi Alpha president, Paula Lodwick, volunteers at the center and wanted to create a meditation room for the veterans. “One of the core social work values is respecting the dignity and worth of individuals, and part of that is facilitating self-determination. People heal and recover in different ways. I wanted to offer the veterans a chance to try different types of healing such as meditation,” said Lodwick.

Phi Alpha is an honors society intended to create a bond between Social Work Students and promote humanitarian ideals. SWAG, or Social Work in Action, is a student group created to offer social work students a chance to put what they learn in the social work program into action in the real world. “We have been trying to find a service project that both groups could work on together, and this project seemed perfect,” noted SWAG President Kaylee Lark.

Decision Point embraced the idea immediately. The veterans were very interested in meditation, and would even give up lunch breaks to participate. However, they did not have a good space to conduct group or individual meditation sessions. There were three rooms available, but they needed cleaning, painting, furniture and supplies. The students volunteered to turn the rooms into a meditation room, a computer room, and a library. They relied on donations for paint, supplies and furniture.

There is still a need for donations including meditation CDs or DVDs, floor pillows, books, lamps, chairs, desks, computers, rugs, games, coffee tables, side tables, and bookshelves. “It really is a labor of love,” said Eric Howle, a daytime support staff worker at Decision Point. “We have veterans from multiple generations, including service men and women recently back from Iraq and Afghanistan, and we are always looking for new ways to assist them in their recovery. We are also always accepting donations ranging from basic supplies as well as bigger items like exercise equipment.”

For more information on how you can donate, please contact Paula Lodwick at plodwick@uark.edu or Decision Point at 479-464-1060.