Service Locations and Descriptions
Spring Break
1. Drug/Alcohol Rehab: Colorado
Where: Wellington, CO With whom: Harvest Farm
Doing what: Harvest farm is a drug and alcohol rehab program. The program offers treatment, counseling, the opportunity to learn the trade of farming as well as having a strong religious component program. Service will consist of physical labor and farm work along side the residents in the program, spending most of the day with residents doing whatever is needed of us by the site.
2. Invisibility of Disability: Nashville, TN
Where: Nashville, TN With whom: United Cerebral Palsy of Middle Tennessee
Doing what: Service will be focused on helping those with disabilities and may include building wheelchair ramps, aiding in a wheelshair basketball program, and other related service learning opportunities.
3. Sustainability and Poverty Reduction: West Virginia
Where: Spencer, WV With whom: Gift of Tears Catholic Worker Farm
Doing what: Through service work, community interaction, and field trips, you will learn about the many environmental and societal causes of both this region’s poverty and wealth. This trip explores sustainable living and how it can relieve Appalachia’s poverty, even from home. The majority of the service for this trip includes chopping wood, fixing fences, gardening, and basic farming.
4. Urban Poverty: Washington, DC
Where: Washington, D.C. With whom: The Pilgrimage
Doing what: Service will be focused on the issue of poverty, hunger, and homelessness, in the D.C. area and may include delivering meals, working in a soup kitchen, and other service learning opportunities surrounding the complex causes of homelessness.
5. Environmental: Florida
Where: Florida City, FL With whom: Everglades Hostel and Biscayne National Park
Doing what: Service will include participating in a variety of projects in order to help with the clean up of the Everglades and surrounding area as well as the preservation of the diverse wildlife.
6. HIV/AIDS: San Francisco
Where: San Francisco, CA
Doing what: Service will focus on spreading awareness and education about HIV/AIDS. Service will also consist of preparing meals and other everyday essentials for those affected by HIV/AIDS.
7. Native American Issues: South Dakota
Where: Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, SD With whom: Re-Member
Doing what: Volunteers will learn about Native American culture, history, and reservation life from the Oglala Lakota and will work on construction, maintenance, and building projects on the reservation.
8. Hurricane Relief: Gulf Coast
Where: New Orleans, LA (1); Biloxi, MS (1)
Doing what: Volunteers will help to continue the rebuilding and cleaning up of NOLA or Biloxi through such service as building houses, gutting houses, working in the community, and cleaning up parks.
9. Environmental: Catalina Island
Where: Catalina Island, CA With whom: Catalina Island Conservatory
Doing what: Volunteers will engage in various ecological projects such as removing non-invasive plant species, securing the habitat for native animals, and maintaining hiking trails and other conservatory-operated facilities
10. Prison Justice: Chicago
Where: Chicago, IL With whom: St. Leonard’s
Doing what: Working with a men’s half-way house learning about justice within the prison system from the prisoners themselves. Immersion experience will involve learning about social justice within the prison system by visiting a prison.
11. Urban Poverty: Baltimore, MD
Where: Baltimore, MD With whom: Catholic Charities Project SERVE
Doing What: Service includes working with: children and families, the community, seniors and people with developmental disabilities. The goal is to enable those people to participate in the life of the community to the fullness of their abilities.
12. 2nd World Poverty: Ukraine
Where: Kiev and Tsurupinsk, Ukraine With whom: Orphanage 12 and Tsurupinsk Children’s Home
Doing what: Orphanage 12 is one of Ukraine’s state orphanages for children up to 16 years old, and the Children’s Home in Tsurupinsk is for children with physical disabilities. Service will consist mainly of refurbishing and doing projects for the orphanage and spending time with the children.
13. Community Development: Jamaica
Where: St. Andrew, Jamaica With whom: Blue Mountain Project
Doing what: Service will include working to build medical clinics to meet health needs, operating nutrition programs, and providing job training in the community as well as promoting community development.
14. Refugee Resettlement: Buffalo, NY
Where: Buffalo, NY With whom: Journey’s End Refugee Services, Inc.
Doing what: Service will include helping refugees to move-in and help with household set-up for new arrivals. Students may also tutor refugees with their English as a second language.
15. Elderly Living: Charlotte, NC
Where: Charlotte, NC With whom: Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services
Doing what: Working at nutrient sites within the Department of Social Services providing healthy lunches and socializing with the elderly through games such as Bingo, working with assisted living and memory support, and assisting in arts and crafts projects all while developing personal relationships with the elderly.
16. Inner City Education: Cincinnati
Where: Cincinnati, OH With Whom: Various public schools and after-school programs.
Doing what: Participants will gain a better understanding of the public school system by actually working in classrooms and having personal interaction with the students.
17. Gang Prevention: Albany, NY
Where: Albany, NY With Whom: New York State Gang Prevention
Doing What: In Albany, students will focus on the issue of Gang Violence Prevention. The group will work with NYSGP, an organization that works to end gang violence by providing intervention through after school programs, academic tutoring, and various other activities. Possible service includes working with kids in classrooms, after school and evening programs, and working with the Albany Police Department to provide mentors to at-risk youth in Albany. The group will also spend time learning about gang issues and prevention techniques.
18. Animal Rights: MYSTERY!
Where: Somewhere, USA With Whom: ????
Doing what: You’ll be doing service related to animal rights!!!
Summer
1. Border Issues: Arizona and Texas
Where: AZ/TX With whom: TBD
Doing What: Service may consist of playing with children at an orphanage, distributing food in the barrios, building concrete houses for families, visiting with the elderly, visiting a fair trade coffee business, and visiting a drug and alcohol rehab center.
2. Children and Poverty: Dominican Republic
Where: Dominican Republic With whom: Orphanage Outreach
Doing what: Service will be teaching and hanging out with children. Those who are fluent in Spanish will teach Spanish; those who are not will teach in an English Emersion program.
3. Cultural Immersion: El Salvador
Where: San Salvador, El Salvador With whom: Crispaz
Doing what: Some service will be done with at risk youth and young adults in the city of San Salvador, but the majority of the trip will be spent learning about the history, culture, and social issues of El Salvador.