Rebecca Fronek exchanged her dreams of becoming a missionary for a chance to major in communications at SOU and hasn’t regretted the decision. In fact, thanks to COMM 342: Persuasion, she managed to achieve her goal of benefiting Medford’s homeless by organizing an event with the Medford Gospel Mission Women’s Shelter called “Every Woman Deserves Christmas.”

On Friday December 9, community members—all women since men are not allowed at the shelter—arrived for the event with gift bags containing items from a list of essentials, including anything from bus passes to socks. Although her professor, Alena Ruggerio, doesn’t require students to take their completed persuasion campaigns to community organizations, Fronek found the community could more easily meet the need her campaign addressed and decided to contact a local nonprofit.

When choosing what organization to pitch her campaign to, she wanted to pick a place people often overlook since “a lot of things are geared toward children and a lot of the time people forget there are others in need.” Because of that choice and with the support of Janet Fairrington, the shelter’s director, Fronek managed to create a Christmas memory for the women staying at the Medford shelter.

Jennifer Marcellus
CAS Student Intern