Sunday Service Group Provides Regular Community Service Outlet
April 24, 2008
Despite the numerous service opportunities offered to students throughout the academic year at Emmanuel, Jillian Degnan '09 and Meaghan Mingo '10 felt there was even more they could do to help those in need.
This fall, with the assistance of the Office of Campus Ministry, Degnan and Mingo established the Sunday Service Group, a weekly service opportunity for students interested in helping less fortunate members of the Boston community on a more frequent basis. The group regularly rotates between three services sites, St. Ambrose Family Shelter, Pine Street Inn and Sunday Bread, allotting a few hours each Sunday to that week's location.
"Our students are very dedicated to service and very much wanted an outlet for regular service," said Associate Director of Community Service and Service Learning Deirdre Bradley-Turner. "The challenge was to find a way to provide them with such opportunities due to their busy schedules. Both Jill and Meaghan have always participated in our on-going service opportunities and were interested in finding a way to provide service on a more consistent basis."
"Emmanuel is situated in such a perfect spot in the middle of Boston and as students here we have such wonderful opportunities," said Mingo. "But we still have the responsibility to give back and face the reality that there are a lot of people in this city who are a lot less fortunate. There is a strong need to provide service in the community and students need to be reminded to do something about it."
In addition to their weekly hours at service sites, members of the group also recently met with students from Wheeling Jesuit University (WV), who were in Boston for their Alternative Spring Break. Bradley-Turner and Campus Minister Jennie Reis set up a meeting between the two groups in hopes of sparking conversation about their service experiences.
"We wanted to give them the opportunity to discuss the differences and similarities between city and rural service and give them a chance to meet another group of their peers who are doing service," said Bradley-Turner.
"We also wanted them to see that service is universal," added Reis. "I wanted our students to see the similarities between the services these students provide in Appalachia and their own, that there are basic human needs to be met."
Students had the chance to meet with their West Virginia counterparts both before and after their week of service with the Boston Living Center, a non-profit organization serving the New England HIV/AIDS community, and the Greater Boston Food Bank, the largest hunger relief organization in the region.
"They said that their experience was really informative and it was eye-opening to see a different side of poverty," Mingo said of the Wheeling Jesuit students. "Overall it was interesting to meet with them because we live in two different worlds in a sense, but yet there are also many similarities between us."
The Sunday Service Group hopes to continue its efforts of consistent service and encourages others to join in and lend a helping hand.
"I think there really is a group of students who would like to be able to do service on a regular basis, but didn't have the opportunity before," said Degnan. "Now, it is so much easier."
If interested in participating with the Sunday Service Group, contact either Jill Degnan at degnaji@emmanuel.edu or Meaghan Mingo at mingome@emmanuel.edu