“I can’t tell you what a blessing it was to me…”
Professor Tina Boosel
Reinhardt University
McCamish School of Business
For Reinhardt business instructor Tina Boosel it was just another class as the semester began to wind down. In fact it was the final class, an e-commerce lecture that focused on supply chain management.
It turned out to be a class that would change the lives of her students and touch the lives of less fortunate students who otherwise would not have a very merry Christmas.
Boosel showed a TED Talk about how UPS employees found a way to use their gifts to get food to hungry families in far-flung locations around the world. They simply used their company’s logistic expertise to transport the items as efficiently as possible without reinventing the wheel or adding unnecessary overhead. The project was brilliant in its execution.
Then Boosel shared her personal experience volunteering her time and business acumen with a non-profit that helps older adults raise their autistic grandchildren. Class ended and students departed.
“I didn’t ask for assistance or offer extra credit for assisting in a Christmas project,” she says. In fact, grades had already been posted when she received an email from a student asking to meet her in the parking lot.
She was shocked to see 109 high quality toys that students had purchased to support her ministry in the community. The back of her Toyota 4-Runner was filled.
“I can’t tell you what a blessing it was to me to know that a group of students went and bought gifts for these kids. All they asked in exchange was that I send them a picture of a few of the kids, so they can see who got some of the gifts,” she says.
It was obviously a class that will long be remembered by Boosel, her students, and the grandparents and their grandchildren.
“All I had done in that class was to share how we all have God-given talents and we have a responsibility to share those talents with those less fortunate,” she explains.
It was a lesson in supply chain management with a Christian perspective.
“We have students from all faiths and no faith but I felt they needed to look beyond themselves and see others in need and how they could make a difference.”
That spirit of giving is what sets Reinhardt apart from other institutions that neglect the spiritual dimension in a well-lived, well-balanced life. It’s about service to God that, in so doing, is service to others.
