Stretch your comfort zone, grow in the process

Serving others is an integral part of education. There are many ways that you can committ yourself to service at St. Joe's.

Giving Back

Each week, students volunteer at area food pantries. Over semester break in January, students help to feed people at a homeless shelter in Portland or build a house in Guatemala; in March they volunteer in five states during an alternative spring break called Workfest. However you want to get involved, there's a way.

Raising Awareness

To promote consciousness about the need for shelter, students camp out in cardboard boxes overnight in front of Alfond Hall to promote the student Habitat for Humanity chapter. Campus Ministry members bring hot chocolate and their support to the encampment. During Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week, students serve breakfast and lunch at local food pantries.

Living tradition

Reaching out beyond our campus boundaries speaks to the mission of Catherine McAuley, founder of the Sisters of Mercy who opened her heart with compassion and mercy to those with physical, psychological and spiritual need. The Mercy tradition is alive and well here as we seek to provide acts of charity and kindness, advocacy for justice and stewardship - both on and off campus.

Reaching out

St. Joe's is part of the annual Midnight Run, a consortium of churches, colleges and civic groups that distribute food, clothes and other necessities to homeless people in New York City. The dining staff here make sandwiches, the Sisters of Mercy donate clothes from their second-hand shop in Portland, Campus Ministry pours shampoo into little bottles.

In their own words