Community Harvest, Milton, Pa.
When she began volunteering at Community Harvest, a hot-meals program run by Bucknell’s Office of Civic Engagement, Becca Mooney ’20 had a revelation. “I was always surrounded by people aged 18 to 24, and it was so nice to interact with older people and younger kids and get to know another side of the community.”

The biomedical engineering major from Nazareth, Pa., knew she wanted to do everything she could in college, coming to campus the summer before her first year to do biology research as a STEM Scholar and joining the Social Justice Residential College. For her Foundation Seminar volunteering requirement, she chose Community Harvest.

What She’s Doing:
“When I started working at Community Harvest, I made a point of sitting with someone new every week,” says Mooney. She loved connecting with the patrons so much that she became a student coordinator. Besides her engineering research, being a Samek Art Museum guide and working as a resident assistant, Mooney spends Monday afternoons at Community Harvest setting up the space, preparing food, coordinating services and cleaning up while she gets to know the patrons.

What She Loves:
Connecting with people and giving her time has helped Mooney define her path. “It’s really changed my perspective,” she says. “In high school, I wanted to be an eye surgeon, because I thought I needed to help people on this huge scale to make an impact. It’s been so eye opening to understand that in my everyday life I can help people.”
— Paula Cogan Myers