Service Trip To bethlehem Farm!
Thanks to all those who applied this year, it's going to be another great trip!
See photos and information for past trips below.
JustFaith Group
Once a month, TBA
How are we as Catholics or people of faith called to respond to the injustices we see in this world? Come join us once a month to discuss hot topics like the food crisis, immigration, the death penalty and more! It will be a casual discussion with participation encouraged, we will start with an overview of the facts, so we're all equally informed and then will open it up. Come to learn, share, listen, or just come for the treats! No commitment required, come to as many sessions as you can! Contact Laura if you have suggestions: lardz2@umsl.
St. Augustine Wellston Center
Not Available Fridays but still want to do service?
St. Augustine Wellston Center is a food pantry/thrift store a few miles east of UMSL that gives out food to many needy people every Tues and Wed. morning, 9am-11:30am. If you're available either of those days and are interested in helping out, once or consistently, please email service co-chair Laura at: lardz2@umsl.edu. She goes regularly and would be happy to give you a ride and introduce you to all the great people there. It's fun, friendly and a minimal time investment.
Upcoming Service Opportunities
Friday, February 13: Metro Homeless
Metro Homeless is a two-year program for women learning to become independent after being homeless, we would help out with upkeep projects around their community.
March: Social Justice Month [More events and details to come]
Week 1: Environmental Awareness
Week 2: Hunger Awareness
Week 3: Homelessness Awareness
Friday, April 17: Gateway Greening
- Gateway Greening is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community development through community gardening. Since 1984, Gateway Greening has helped transform neglected and abandoned lots in St. Louis into productive gardens and beautiful landscaped areas. Their mission is to provide resources and training to neighborhood groups who believe in their communities and want to reclaim them from urban decay.
- CNC worked on their urban garden project called "City Seeds" most recently in Oct. 2008. City Seeds works in conjunction with St. Patrick Center, whose clients work through a job training program as they rehabilitate from addictions.
Friday, May 15: Forest Park Forever
- Forest Park Forever, a private, nonprofit organization, was founded in 1986 to work in partnership with the City of St. Louis and the Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry to make Forest Park a premier urban park. Over the past decade, more than $94 million has been invested in the restoration of this community treasure.
- We volunteered with FPF in October 2007 and Spring 2007. We planted native MO plants around Post Dispatch Lake in October. In the spring, we pulled an invasive plant material in the Kennedy forest. In the fall they usually have planting projects. We loved working with them!
Past Events
Service Trip:
Every year, the Catholic Newman Center takes a Service Trip to broaden our horizons, open our eyes to the bigger community of those in need, and grow as people of God. The timing of the trip has varied over the years, sometimes occurring in May, once in January, and this coming year (08-09) it will be the last full week of March--UMSL's Spring Break. Contact Liz if you are interested!
We have gone to two placements in the last few years, because we loved them so much--but are always open to new ideas! See description below or view pictures of our trips in the Photo Album.
Service
Fridays:
Help alleviate sub-standard housing, help feed those in
poverty, or help educate children by volunteering one
Friday of each month. If you would like to be placed on
our Service Friday e-mail list, send your name and e-mail
address to cnc@cncumsl.org.
If you join the e-mail list, we will alert you to upcoming
service opportunities a few weeks before the event. Click here for past volunteer sites.
Social Justice Month:
Social Justice Month is a time that the Catholic Newman Center sets aside to emphasize a specific part of our faith, though social justice is applicable to people of all faiths. The purpose of Social Justice Month is to raise awareness, increase education, and open people's eyes to the variety of people that are suffering in the world. We want to be able to explore others’ plights and hopefully help to alleviate some of their suffering. It helps foster an awareness of other people's struggles and helps us understand the ways in which the people we serve can teach us.
Social Justice Month is usually 3 weeks focusing on different aspects of justice including:
Catholic Social Teaching Group [Post Service Trip, Ongoing Awareness]:
Come learn about the Catholic Church's "Best Kept Secret" - Catholic Social Teaching! We will discuss and look at the Church's historical and current views and encyclicals on human rights, the environment, workers' rights, and poverty. The group will continue every month beginning in April and explore the different themes of CST more in depth each week. No commitment required, come to as many sessions as you can! More details about dates and times to be posted soon. Contact Liz for more details or if you are interested in joining us.
Newman Garden:
Motivated by the themes of simplicity, sustainability, and concern for the earth taught at Bethlehem Farm, our returning students ted students decided to take those themes and adapt them for our own community. The students planned, prepared, planted, and weeded a garden in the CNC backyard to produce multiple vegetables for consumption as they taught about ethical purchasing and planting. We have fresh tomatoes, and will have a garden harvest day coming up in September...come on by!
The Big Event: [Second Semester]
This is a campus-wide service project sponsored by Student Government and lots of organizations on campus. Last year,
we worked on campus (in Mark Twain) with Big Brothers, Big Sisters and some 'littles' that had yet to be 'adopted.' Each student organization provided a game or activity for the 'littles' to play, crafts, coloring, icebreakers, and kickball were a big hit!
Relay For Life: [Mid-April]
Join UMSL and the American Cancer Society for Relay For Life® for a fun-filled overnight experience designed to bring together the campus community against cancer. The events are held overnight to represent the fact that cancer never sleeps. Through the survivors' lap and the luminaria ceremony, we honor the people who have faced cancer first hand, and we remember those who have been lost to this disease. Lots of activities, spirit bucks, midnight chili, decorations, costumes, music, and solidarity make this an excellent all-nighter!
Please read this week's
edition of the Newman
News or see our calendar for the most current service opportunities.
If you or your organization
are interested in doing service projects and are looking for sites,
contact Liz Detwiler at the Catholic Newman Center at 314-385-3455
or cnc@cncumsl.org.
|
