The initial mission statement was created by the Center’s advisory board in 1987. Its breadth and detail were especially helpful in those formative years. The second was written by the board in a 2000 summer retreat because participants felt a shorter one would be more useful. The statement of purpose was created by student leaders in 1992 and presented first to the Salt Lake Rotary Foundation, who helped fund the center for the first five years. This commitment was also printed on a large wooden wall-hanging and dedicated to all the center’s founders including Dick and Sue Jacobsen, the center’s initial donors. When Dick was told that this pledge was being given to the Rotary Foundation and was asked if his name could be included, he said, “Just make me a dot in the right hand corner.” That dot is visible on the plaque, which still hangs in the center.
The 1987 Mission Statement
“The Lowell Bennion Community Service Center seeks to involve University students, faculty, staff, and alumni in service to the communities in which they live locally, nationally, and globally. Inspired by the enduring example of Lowell Bennion, whose life-long devotion to the well-being of others guided both his personal and professional affairs, the Center engages all participants in identifying community needs, exploring possible solutions, and particularly, offering enlightened humane service. The Center promotes understanding of the nature of human communities, the benefits of cooperative effort, and the rewards found in the relief of suffering or the banishment of ignorance and fear. In a society of material plenty, those who participate in the Center’s activities and projects will find meaning through community service and pleasure in the improvement of life around them.”
The 2000 Mission Statement
“The Lowell Bennion Community Service Center fosters lifelong service and civic participation by engaging the University with the greater community in action, change, and learning.”
1992 Service Pledge to Our Community
“Because we recognize a gap between our society’s values and our current reality and because we believe that when one person is hurting, we all suffer; then we, as participants in the Lowell Bennion Community Service Center, pledge ourselves to engage in effective action and thoughtful reflection in order to find solutions to our communities’ problems, narrow this gap, and build a better future.”
