Weekly Volunteering with Campus Ministry
An inside look at what volunteering is all about, and how you could get involved!
Campus Ministry at their annual walk to fight world hunger. Photo via Campus Ministry.
For more than 25 years, Marist College’s Campus Ministry has invited all students to participate in weekly service to serve the larger community in the city of Poughkeepsie. Weekly service can be done by any student regardless of their religious background and is a crucial part of the Marist Brother’s mission to give back through their schools dispersed across the globe.
To get involved, students have the option to visit any of the six locations included in the weekly service program some of which include St. Peter’s Elementary School, Morse Elementary School, The Manor at Woodside, and the Harriet Tubman After School Program.
By serving the community, not only are students offered the potential of two priority points, but they also find joy in connecting with the people of Poughkeepsie, creating lasting memories.
“Everything that people tell me about Marist Students is that it is an enriching experience for them,” said Brother Michael Flannigan, the organizer for weekly service. “Students came to give and to help, [they] received back a lot more than they are giving.”
On campus, everyone is encouraged to get involved at some point and to do some form of service because it is a great way to take a break from heavy school work to see the community at large. For just two hours a week, the impact that students are able to make on the people they help is seen with Brother Michael saying, “Marist Students are the ones that the young people look up to,” in reference to the elementary students.
Not only is volunteering through active service at a variety of sites helpful to the community but so too is van driving for the volunteers to get to their sites. The van drivers also serve for two hours a week but choose to drive the volunteers around the community to their specific sites. Brother Michael said, “if there were no van drivers, there would be no weekly service [and that] it is the skeleton to the whole campus ministry weekly service.”
As a school based on a sense of community and giving back, students have the opportunity to get involved, whether that be through weekly service through campus ministry or through the various community give-back days offered on campus.