This past Friday, the Washington and Lee University Nabors Service League extended a helping hand to the greater Lexington community by hosting a Halloween parade for the Lexington trick-or-treaters.

The members of the Nabors Service League set up game booths, face-painting stations and candy-handout spots for the visiting families, with the ultimate goal of making a difference in the community.

Madison Smith, ‘16, a member of the Nabors Youth and Enrichment Team, saw the event as not only a means of advocating the W&L Nabors’ program among the community, but as a way to enhance the Halloween experience for the young children of Lexington.

This event, said Smith, let the community know that they are “here to serve,” and that is the true spirit of Nabors.

Not only does the Nabors Service League have an important role in the community, but it has an important role here on campus.

Its purpose, said Alessandra Catizone, is to “inspire and lead others to aid those in need and be a helpful hand of this community that we reside in.”

Catizone believes that the Nabors program not only cultivates a sense of service that W&L students can extend from campus to community, but also provides an opportunity for students to mentor younger kids.

The program and specific events like the Halloween parade bring “awareness to the less fortunate and issues, such as social justice, that impact these people everyday,” said Catizone.

It is this sense of mentorship that Catizone sees as one of the most rewarding elements of the Nabors Service League:  “Students have the opportunity to connect with our community and bring about a spirit of service in a lighthearted and enthusiastic way,” which not only brings a smile to the kids’ faces, but also one to those of the W&L volunteers.

The most rewarding aspect of this event, said Catizone, was the simple act of having people come together and seeing the joys that students can bring to kids, and that kids can bring to students.  Catizone said she received an enormous amount of thank-you’s from both children and parents during the event, and it is the appreciation and enjoyment that the children expressed that made the event so worthwhile.

It was a perfect chance for all W&L students involved to have a mentorship and leadership role.

As Catizone said, children need role models, and “who better than Washington and Lee students to be their inspiration?”

With the great success of the event, the Nabors Service League plans to continue to hold the Halloween parade in years to come, with the intent of bringing even more joy to the children of Lexington.