The Saint Anselm Meelia Center hosted its 33rd annual Valentine’s Day Dance, welcoming guests and volunteers for an afternoon of singing, dancing, and merriment in the Carr Center on Feb. 8. The 100+ volunteers welcomed over 100 guests, promoting inclusion for Saint Anselm and neighboring communities. 

Addie Clifford ’26, the Community Events Coordinator for the Meelia Center worked and oversaw the planning and execution of the Valentine’s Day Dance. “We lead a team of first-year students, who are community fellows, to help plan these events,” Clifford said. Clifford, her co-coordinator Gabriela Goulet ’25 and her community fellows at the Meelia Center also plan events such as the “Holiday Fair, the Halloween Dance, and every big event in the Carr Center,” Clifford said. 

These events hosted by the Meelia Center rely heavily on the volunteers of Saint Anselm students, to make the process of planning and hosting possible. “We had 117 volunteers,” Clifford said, and a lot of logistical work was done to rally student volunteers. “We table to get volunteers, we send out flyers, and emails,” Goulet said. “This is one of our largest community events,” Clifford said, “and we had over 100 guests, probably close to 200,” and the event usually leads a large turnout from the greater Manchester area. 

“What’s great about events like these is we have people who can come for service hours, with helping set up or knock down, and normally most people just stay for the event because it’s so fun,” Clifford said. Student athletes, service societies, and other organizations provide opportunities for students to get involved and serve their community with events like the Valentine’s Day Dance. 

Salvatore Parent ’25 “volunteered for SGA”, and Parent said that he “loves the Valentine’s Day Dance, [and] I love any collaborative event that brings the Manchester community to Saint A’s.” As a regular volunteer to this annual event, “this one’s a very special one, it was probably one of the first events that I volunteered at with the Meelia Center, and I’ve made special connections with all the guests that we invite to campus,” Parent said. 

The special quality of this event was felt by other volunteers of the event, including Megan Wozniak ’25, who works as a coordinator for Families in Transition at Webster House, and also as an E.M.T. with the College. Volunteering at the event as an E.M.T. and also with the Meelia Center, Wozniak said “I love it, it’s great to have [the guests] come by, and they love to dance and hang out with the college kids and have fun.” The Meelia Center allows guests of all ages and abilities to come to the dance and have fun. 

Chris Larkin ’25 volunteered with the King Edward Society. “We get asked to come, and then it’s just volunteers,” Larkin said, “so whoever wants to come just shows up.” One of the service societies at Saint Anselm, the King Edward Society had “around 15 guys show up” for the Valentine’s Day Dance, Larkin said. 

“I personally love it,” Larkin said, and “I came last year and I came to the Halloween Dance that they had in the fall, and it’s just a great time.” Larkin’s volunteering experience with the Meelia Center’s events has left him with the understanding that these events are critically important for the Saint Anselm community, because “it’s really important for our community to be able to come to things like this, and it would be nice if we could do more things like this for them because they love to be here,” Larkin said. 

“Events like this are what makes Saint Anselm College Saint A’s, and I think it’s important that every single person, in their college career, attends community events with the Meelia Center, and understands the true meaning of being Anselmian,” Clifford said, and “it’s amazing to see members of our community consistently show up for the Manchester area.”