Football team at Snack Packs for Champ The Xavierite
Student Success, Service Club, and High Impact Practices are hosting this year’s annual Service Week from March 18-22.
“Service is one of SXU’s core values so it’s highly essential for our students to participate in giving back to their community and helping the less fortunate for civic responsibility through empathy, compassion, and kindness,” stated Manal M. Kanaan, EdD, of the Director of High Impact Practices and Katherine Szymczak, M.A., the Student Support Specialist for Trio and staff advisor for Service Club.
The university’s core values of: Respect, Excellence, Diversity, Compassion, Hospitality, Integrity, Learning for Life, and Service were established in 2003-2004, according to sxu.edu, but were “always at the heart of Saint Xavier University’s mission, ground and enliven the institution’s academic and co-curricular programs and its operating ethos.”
Kanaan and Szymczak voiced that one way to honor the university’s core values is to be of service to the community both on and off campus.
“Service is important because it offers an opportunity for you to step out of your self-absorbed bubble and dedicate time to others. It is a time to share the generosity and charity you can extend to your community, which is an especially rare thing to do in today’s time” said Luz Garcia.
This year, attendees can participate in five different service opportunities: Snack Packs for Champ’s Kitchen, two sessions of SXU Campus Clean Up, Lake Katherine Restoration, Port Ministries, and the ChapStick Project according to TheDen.
The Snack Packs for Champ’s Kitchen experience served as a way to replenish Champ’s Kitchen with both snacks and notes of encouragement for students.
The SXU Campus Clean Up Sessions aided in the beautification of campus, as participants assisted facilities in spreading mulch around the university’s grounds and overall cleaning.
Participants of the Lake Katherine Restoration trip will engage in beautification efforts for the lake such as gardening and ecological restoration on March 21, though the experience is limited to 25 people.
On the same day, Service Week participants will be able to prepare sandwiches for recipients of the Bread Truck through Port Ministries in the Diner Atrium.
SXU has a working relationship with “organizations dedicated to service and humanity for those who need a desperate bright light” in the area, noted Kanaan and Szymczak. The university collaborates with organizations that reflect the values of the Sisters of Mercy and the critical concerns of: racism, immigration, nonviolence, Earth, and women and children.
In the past, participants in Service Week were able to volunteer in places such as “community parks, homeless shelters, food pantries, and more, such as the Greater Chicago Food Depository, the Ronald McDonald House, Hope Center Gardens, Lake Katherine Nature Center & Botanic Gardens, and Cradles-to-Crayons,” clarified Kanaan and Szymczak.
Out of the multitude of options for participants to pick from, the most popular ones have to do with access to food. Participants tend to favor volunteering experiences that allow them to combat world hunger, meaning that they tend to choose food pantries or organizations such as Feed My Starving Children and the Greater Chicago Food Pantry, expressed Kanaan and Szymczak.
Participants also tend to volunteer for events that provide care to children, such as bundling diapers.
This is not the only time in the academic year that service events are held; there is an all-school service day in Aug. and the “WE ARE SXU” week in March alongside a multitude of standalone service opportunities throughout the academic year.
Between all of these events, over 1,000 SXU students have participated in service opportunities according to Kanaan and Szymczak.
The service opportunities for next year’s Service Week are already in consideration, such as communities who reach out for the university’s help. Kanaan and Szymczak plan to focus their services on children, helping them to improve not only their health but also their well-being and educational needs.
For more information regarding service opportunities, contact Kanaan via email (kanaan@sxu.edu) or join the Service Club on TheDen.
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