Chapel marks launch of Belmont’s Shoebox Drive
Belmont students Alina-Sarai and David Gal-Chis spoke to faculty, staff and students about Operation Christmas Child and their experience with the program during a convocation event held on Wednesday in the Chapel. The Gal-Chis siblings received Operation Christmas Child boxes in Romania as young children.
The world’s largest Christmas project of its kind, Operation Christmas Child uses gift-filled shoeboxes to share God’s love in a tangible way with needy children around the world. Since 1993, nondenominational nonprofit Samaritan’s Purse has collected and delivered more than 113 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in over 150 countries through Operation Christmas Child. More than 500,000 volunteers worldwide, with more than 100,000 of those in the United States, are involved in collecting, shipping and distributing shoebox gifts.
“Their mission is not just to bring joy to children. It goes beyond that. It has to do with the love of Jesus Christ and being able to show that through the gift of giving,” said David.
Several Belmont alumnae have been named finalists in the “2014 Martha Stewart American Made Awards.” Martha Stewart’s American Made is a nationally recognized awards program that celebrates new rising stars of the growing nationwide maker community who have turned their passions for handcrafted, well-designed goods into a small business and proudly make their products in America.
Also, in the American Made 
Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship Dr. Mark Phillips published one of the main features in the September 2014 issue of the Nashville Bar Journal. His article, “Can Entrepreneurial Education Restore Faith in Legal Education?,” can be found on page 6 of 
Francesca Muccini, associate professor of Italian, has published “Dalle Marche al Mississippi Delta” in Via: Voices in Italian American (Volume 25, Number 1 2014), a leading journal in the field of Italian-American Studies. Going against the common research that focuses especially on the emigration from the South of Italy, Muccini looks at the case of the Marche region (central Italy), from where several families were recruited to work in the Sunnyside Cotton’s plantation near Greenville, Arkansas.
Students from Charmion Gustke’s First-Year Writing class, “Why Freedom Matters,” spent a recent morning at Thistle Farms, a social enterprise that is run by the women of Magdalene House. Magdalene is a residential program for women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, addiction and life on the streets. After meeting with the women for their Wednesday morning devotional, where stories are shared and blessings are celebrated, students toured the facility and experienced, first-hand, the community of Magdalene and the freedom that is found in cooperation. The morning ended with students relaxing next door at the Thistle Stop Café where they were asked to blog and reflect on their experience. This photo was used in the Thistle Farms newsletter of the week.
Instructor of Entrepreneurship and Management Jose Gonzalez was recently interviewed for WalletHub.com’s study examining 2014’s Best and Worst Cities for Hispanic Entrepreneurs. 
The Belmont University School of Physical Therapy recently hosted two health professionals from Istituto Prosperius Tiberino, a 75-bed rehabilitation hospital in Umbria, Italy. Since 2012, nine Belmont physical therapy students have completed a clinical affiliation at the hospital, and three more students are scheduled for an eight-week clinical affiliation during the spring of 2015.