Michele Haralson of our Orlean Bullard Beeson School of Education and Professional Studies sent this message to me on Saturday:

"My husband and I are involved in a homeless ministry and have become friends with people in public housing who do not have transportation.  We try to pick them up once or twice a week so they can just have a change of scenery.  Today I  picked up two of these friends for brunch at Samford.  (The gravy biscuits were a hit, by the way!)  Afterwards, as I was catching up on work in my office, "Julie" found a computer, and "Jim" was staring out the window, watching the Samford football team practice. He asked me, 'Am I allowed to go watch them practice?'


'Of course!' I replied. An hour later, he came back with a smile from ear to ear. 'You've got some really big guys! I think the Bulldogs are gonna be GREAT next year!' A few minutes later he said quietly, 'That's the first time I've ever seen a football team in a real live campus stadium.'"

The world is better because, as Michele said in her closing comments to me, people at Samford "are touching lives even when they don't realize it."

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.