Each year, Samford University’s Office of Parent and Family Engagement and the Samford Parents Association partner to host Family Weekend. Sept. 20-22 marked the 60th anniversary of the event and kicked off with the historic dedication of the university’s new Campus Recreation, Wellness and Athletic Complex.
“We are delighted to welcome the entire family to campus for this special weekend every year,” said Julie Boyd, director of Parent and Family Engagement. “It is a time to bring people together, in this place we all love, to celebrate our students’ successes and confirm their choice to make Samford their second home.”
Family Weekend 2024, themed “Fall for Samford”, hosted a record-breaking number of guests for a several events, including shows in Christenberry Planetarium, a prayer walk, worship services, art projects, performances from the marching band and guest artists, Pops with the Prez, the Party on the Quad, live music and fireworks. And, new to the weekend was a campuswide service project during which parents, faculty, students, staff and alumni came together to pack more than 32,000 meals to help fight food insecurity in Ecuador.
“Last year, Parent and Family Engagement launched our first mission trip to Ecuador with plans to visit every year during Spring Break,” said Boyd. “We will return in March 2025, and the Family Weekend service project is just one of the ways we can continue to provide support to our ministry efforts in Ecuador throughout the year.”
The mission trip to Ecuador, which is put on in collaboration with the Office of Community Engagement, is open to anyone in the Samford family looking to make a difference. Learn more about the 2025 event to be held March 8-15.
Family Weekend also plays host to the Samford Parents Association’s annual meeting and breakfast. Members of the Parents Association joined one another for breakfast and to vote on the allocation of resources of this year’s Good Measure Fund.
Each year, the Parents Association casts their ballots in support of one of several projects or needs within Student Affairs. The Parents Association’s Good Measure Fund provides the necessary resources to bring one of these projects to life; each project should enhance student life, appeal to the heart of the parents and focus on unmet needs that directly or indirectly impact the lives of all students. The winning project is announced at the conclusion of Family Weekend.
This year, 10 projects were presented for consideration of the Good Measure Fund and the Samford Parents Association voted to fund not one, but five of the initiatives presented. However, before the conclusion of the meeting, the remaining five projects were generously funded by individual and family donations.
