​​PC Students: Transforming Society

Community service initiatives are a vital part of the Providence College experience

Providence College students annually volunteer nearly 50,000 hours at more than 100 community agencies, schools, and other non-profit sites in Greater Providence. Volunteer service is provided through the Office of the Chaplain/Campus Ministry, the Office of Student Affairs, the Feinstein Institute for Public Service, the Office of Public Affairs, Government and Community Relations, the Student Athlete Advisory Board, and many of the College’s student clubs, organizations, and service learning classes.

FriarServe is a service initiative now in its second year. It has two major components. In 2017, PC committed a $100,000 gift to Diocesan Catholic Schools in celebration of the College’s Centennial and in support of Catholic education in RI. The College’s gift was made through the Diocesan Catholic School Office (CSO) in equal sums for four years. The money is used for scholarships given to students attending Catholic elementary and secondary schools via the CSO’s Anchor of Hope Fund, a diocesan financial assistance fund that helps financially strapped families secure a Catholic school education for their children. A portion of the funds are set aside specifically for five Providence Catholic Pre-K – 8 schools: Bishop McVinney School (South Providence), Blessed Sacrament School (Mt. Pleasant), St. Augustine School (also Mt. Pleasant), St. Pius V School (Elmhurst) and St. Thomas Regional School (Fruit Hill).

Perhaps the most important aspect of FriarServe is its community service component. PC students, staff and faculty are invited to volunteer their time to each of the five above-mentioned schools during the academic year. Activities in the first year of the initiative have included: after-school art programs; tutoring; after-school care; drama club; homework help; and field day assistance. Additionally, elementary school teachers were offered the chance to participate in two professional development workshops run by PC faculty and staff on campus. Not all schools have the same programs, but all have more than one.

In its second year, FriarServe saw an increase of 92 volunteers and 613 volunteer hours from the 2017-2018 school year.  The total of volunteer hours for the second year of FriarServe are as follows:

Matched Volunteers: 151 (70 in 2018 Fall semester; 81 in 2019 Spring semester); some volunteers were assigned to two or more opportunities within one semester

Hours for students: 484.50 hours amongst 64 student volunteers in 2018 Fall semester, 483.25 hours amongst 63 student volunteers in 2019 Spring semester

Hours for faculty/staff: 32.50 hours amongst 6 faculty/staff volunteers in 2018 Fall semester, 74 hours amongst 18 faculty/staff volunteers in 2019 Spring semester

Total hours of volunteering for 2018 Fall semester: 517 hours

Total hours of volunteering for 2019 Spring semester: 557.25 hours

Total hours for 2018-2019: 1,074 hours

Among the notable service projects are the following programs that included direct collaboration with the City of Providence:

• For the 14th consecutive year, PC students, alumni, staff, and friends worked with the City of Providence in Friars United for Service in Our Neighborhood (FUSION), a collaboration to refurbish historic landmarks and community parks in Providence. This April, volunteers worked at Fargnoli Park, 945 Smith St., Providence. Providence Parks Department officials estimate that more than $125,000 in labor has been donated to various projects by FUSION volunteers during the 14 year partnership. The unique arrangement with city parks department officials was developed by the College’s President’s Council. The Council is a leadership group, comprised of senior executives from many of Rhode Island’s most prominent employers, who serve in an advisory capacity to the College’s president.  The FUSION effort matches PC undergraduates with young alumni/alumnae who graduated between 2000 and 2018, regional alumni club leaders, members of the National Alumni Association Board of Governors, and members of the President’s Council. FUSION is designed to facilitate networking and service opportunities among students, alumni, College neighbors, and members of the Greater Providence community.
• Urban Action was launched in 1991 with 17 PC students volunteering the first year. The program offers incoming first-year students an opportunity to spend their first days in Rhode Island’s capital city of Providence improving the community that will be their “home away from home” for the next four years. Incoming first-year students are invited to apply during the summer orientation program. The program has grown to the point where now over 100 students are selected to participate each year. Led by 25 upperclassmen, these freshmen spend three days working at the end of August – rain or shine – on outdoor and indoor service projects important to the Providence community. Since its inception, Urban Action has continued to thrive under the direction of student leaders, who have trained their successors with a passion for growing the program. Since 1991, more than 3,500 students have volunteered thousands of community service hours to Urban Action, with many returning each year as upperclassmen leaders.

• In its seventh year, the FaithWorkspre-orientation service immersion program took place in August. More than 60 PC first-year students participated in the program, led by upperclassmen peers. Sponsored by Campus Ministry, FaithWorks enables new PC students to build community with their peers, perform service work for vulnerable populations in Providence, and reflect on the significance of this work for their own lives. The participants worked at service sites connected to the Catholic Church in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, including the Mother of Life Center, a crisis pregnancy center; Bethany House, a ministry supporting the formerly incarcerated and their families; St. Edwards Food and Wellness Center; the Refugee Dream Center; My Brother’s Keeper; Robert F. Kennedy School; St. Patrick’s Academy and Church; St. Pius V School and Church; McAuley Ministries’ Warde-robe; McAuley Village; and Habitat for Humanity Providence.
• For the first time this year, 300 incoming freshman and upperclassmen mentors participated in the Joint Day of Service. These students cleaned and prepared the classrooms, hallways, and grounds of the Robert F. Kennedy Elementary School for the start of the academic year.  The students were members of one of four groups: Urban Action, FaithWorks, the Multicultural and First Generation Student Transitions Program, and the International Student Welcome Program. The groups traditionally have conducted their own programming prior to the start of the academic year to ease and enhance the transition to college life, but joined for the first time for a community service project.

Established in 1993, the Feinstein Institute for Public Service at Providence College was created to support the major and minor in Public and Community Service Studies.  After two decades, the Institute turned its efforts to campus-community partnerships aimed at addressing the larger questions underlying our public and community service systems. Over the past two years, the Institute has worked with campus and community partners to focus its efforts around questions of racial and economic justice, particularly for youth and families, both locally and globally.  To date, the Institute has 31 community partners.

• The Feinstein Institute’s Community Work Study Program partnered with 17 schools and non-profits within the Providence area. Seventy students participated in the program and used their federal work study award to work with our partners in the local community as an after school tutor, administrative assistant, or delivering furniture. The students have worked over 7,000 hours within the community over the past year and gained professional experience working in non-profits and schools.
• The Feinstein Institute’s Feinstein Community Fellows Program brings together undergraduate students and community partners who share the Feinstein Institute’s commitment to overcoming racial inequity, local and global poverty, and barriers to young people’s capacity to achieve their aspirations. Now in its second year, the program matched 22 PC students with fifteen different community organizations. The Fellows were given their own project responsibilities that ranged from working directly with youth on college applications, SAT prep, and scholarship support through developing a social media communication plan. All of the Fellows participated in bi-weekly meetings to reflect on their service and examine social justice, non-profits, power and privilege.  Together, they completed over 4,000 hours of service throughout the 2018-2019 school year.

The partnership between PC and the San Miguel School began more than eleven years ago. (San Miguel is a De La Salle Christian Brothers school on Branch Avenue in Providence that serves economically disadvantaged boys in grades 5-8.) The College has deepened its relationship with San Miguel through a variety of collaborative initiatives, including Step Up! and the Mentoring Program:

• The San Miguel Mentoring Program was initiated through the Providence President’s Council at PC and began in the fall of 2006. In order to assure its sustainability and institutional resources, the program transitioned into the Chaplain’s Office in 2014. The program matches 25 PC students with 25 San Miguel boys. Once a month the group participates in expanded learning opportunities together, allowing the mentor/mentee pairs to meet and build positive one-on-one relationships.

Athletics:

• Nearly every PC student-athlete, representing 17 varsity sports, participated in a range of community service projects throughout the academic year. There were 340 participants out in the community representing the Friars, putting in 3,547 community service hours. In total, they raised $49,500 for various charitable organizations for 2018-19. Student-athletes understand giving back to the surrounding community, and are committed to demonstrating the Athletic Department’s core values: honesty, integrity, mutual respect, effort, and constant improvement.
• Each year, students work with local elementary schools through their participation in the annual Reading Week event.  Twenty-five student-athletes read to the students and answered questions about attending college, reaching out to hundreds of youths. Another major initiative was a partnership with the The DaVinci Center and the Adopt-a-Family Project, which afforded over 350 Christmas gifts to 127 children and 40 families.
• The swimming and diving team raised more than $30,101 for Swim Across America to benefit cancer research. Many of the teams also assisted with R.I. Special Olympics events, refereeing and cheering on the participants. The women’s ice hockey team raised $2,965 for the Gloria Gemma Foundation, an organization devoted to helping patients with breast cancer.
• This year saw the continuation of the Junior Friars program. The Junior Friars initiative is led by the College’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). SAAC coordinated a Field Day on campus for about 75 Providence Recreation participants. In addition, PC provided about 150 local youth who participate in Providence Rec with tickets to PC Men’s and Women’s basketball games.  In previous years, the College’s student-athletes have volunteered to serve as hosts for games attended by Providence Recreation participants. The student-athletes greeted the students when they arrived on campus, and spent time talking with them before each game. They emphasized the importance of hard work across academics as well as athletics, and encouraged them to make good choices and set their sights on going to college once they graduate from high school. The athletes then watched each game with the students.

Winter 2019 Service Initiatives:

• PC’s annualNOLA (New Orleans, La.) Immersion, sponsored by the Office of Campus Ministry, a faith-based service trip in response to the needs of post-Katrina New Orleans, took place in January. Twelve students and two Campus Ministry staff members (Heidi Fraitzl ’14, campus minister, and Fr. Bonaventure Chapman, O.P., assistant chaplain) participated this year. The trip is a mainstay alternative break experience, which aids the local community while exposing students to the faith, food, and culture of the Gulf Coast. NOLA Immersion is committed to the dignity of the human person, lived out by accompanying our neighbors in the journey toward justice.

March & April 2019 Alternative Break Service Initiatives:

• Eighty-five PC students spent their Spring Break working on behalf of Habitat for Humanity’s Collegiate Challenge Program. Some of the sites where students helped build homes were Connecticut, Delaware, Virginia, Maine and Pennsylvania.
• As a part of the Global Border Crossing course, which focuses on the historical and current relationships between the United States and its bordering communities, 17 PC students went to San Diego, CA and Tijuana, México with Dr. Kara Cebulko, associate professor of sociology and global studies, and Andrea Rojas, a ’17 alum, and coordinator at Dorcas International Institute of RI.  From April 13-20, the class worked over 500 hours with Esperanza International, a transnational non-profit that works to build community along the border of the U.S. and México, building homes with members of that community.
• As part of the Reflecting on Global Service Learning course, which focuses on fair-trade learning, short-term immersive learning, and community development, seven PC students traveled to Ecuador with Dr. Nuria Alonso Garcia, professor and chair of global studies, and Melissa Mardo, program coordinator for the Feinstein Institute for Public Service. During Easter break, April 14-21, the students spent over 50 hours working with ME To WE International learning about the history of Ecuador in Quito and traveling to the Amazon to work in the Hatun Urku community schools to assist with the clean water implementation project.

The PC community also supported numerous charitable organizations:

• Human Resources worked with Providence Princess through a prom dress donation drive on campus.  Providence Princess is an annual drive put on by the Providence Teacher’s Union to provide hundreds of Providence Public School students with free prom dresses and accessories. The drive was held on February 22 and collected 158 prom dresses for donation.
• The School of Continuing Education (SCE) and the Eta Lambda chapter of Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Society for Adults in Continuing Education sponsored a Thanksgiving Food Drive, and collected canned and boxed food, frozen turkeys, and monetary donations/ grocery store gift cards for 20 families identified through A.R.E. (Direct Action for Rights and Equality).
• The School of Continuing Education conducted an “Adopt-a-Family” Christmas drive via Capital City Community Center, in which they collected gifts, toys, and other items for two local families. SCE received donations of gifts and cash to purchase all gifts for a total of two children and two adults.
• The School of Continuing Education sponsored the sixth annual April Showers prize-a-day raffle, which netted $2,400 to support scholarships for SCE students.
• For the fifth year in a row, the President’s Standing Committee on Service (“the Service Board”) coordinated a Thanksgiving Drive, in partnership with the Smith Hill Community Development Center and Mary House, the social ministry of St. Patrick’s Parish in Providence. The Board raised over $3,000 in monetary donations, 40 turkeys, and over 2,000 canned goods and non-perishable food items.  The Thanksgiving Drive was able to provide 500 adults and 380 children with a free Thanksgiving meal.
• In February of this year, the Service Board organized the Rhode Island Community Food Bank Drive to collect donations for those impacted by the federal government shutdown. Campus wide contributions totaled $200 in monetary donations and collected over 750 lbs. of food to donate to the RI Community Food Bank.

Upcoming Service Trips

• This upcoming summer, PC students, faculty, and staff will participate in Campus Ministry’s International Immersions  Ten students, along with Fr. Peter Martyr Yungwirth, Chaplain, and Quincy Bevely, Assistant Vice President for Institutional Diversity will travel to Guatemalafrom May 25 – June 1. The group will volunteer at San Lucas Mission. The Mission provides a number of important services and development opportunities for the community of San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala. Also, from May 25 – June 1, eleven students from Campus Ministry and Fr. Michael Weibley, Associate Chaplain, and Paul Maloney, Assistant Professor in the Providence College School of Business, will volunteer with Mustard Seed Communities at Blessed Assurance Orphanage near Montego Bay, Jamaica. Mustard Seed provides support for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities.