This past Friday, University student group the Society for Awakening Souls along with Second Year Council sponsored a mental wellness event called “Hugs for Hannah” in wake of the disappearance of second-year College student Hannah Graham.
SAS President Harrison Helm, a third-year College student, and SAS Financial Officer Emily Heymann, a fourth-year Architecture student, organized the event to support students in the University community. About 30 students joined the support group on the Lawn.
Attendees hugged and wrote thank you notes to the police officers, search groups and volunteers in the ongoing investigation into Graham's disappearance. The event was followed by refreshments and discussion at Finch boutique on the Corner.
SAS has weekly meetings where members participate in various styles and techniques of meditation as well as spiritual discussion.
“We discuss how the meditation was, and the conversation naturally progresses from there,” Heymann said.
The club has sponsored multiple other free hug events in the past.
“We were talking about how it’s upsetting to everyone,” Heymann said of Graham's disappearance. “How do we cultivate love and hope? We thought, what better way than through hugs?”
Heymann said the free hug events are effective in difficult times, when words are often hard to find.
“A hug is a very active and universal action that speaks for itself,” Heymann said. “What we need right now is coming together in love.”
Helm emphasized how the presence of other students will help the University community in a time like this. Helm said she hopes for a “peaceful and happy resolution to this pretty bleak situation.”
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