Service Immersion Trips are a vital part of what we do in the Franciscan Center for Service and Advocacy. These trips offer students intense, hands-on experiences of what it means to serve other people in the Franciscan and Catholic Tradition of Siena College – and to have fun growing together as a community while doing so. Click the image below to watch our 30 minute video “Siena Serves,” to learn more about this.

 

Click the individual links above or simply scroll down to learn more about our regularly offered Franciscan Service Immersion Trips to Philadelphia, PA, Boston, MA, and Kingston, Jamaica. We offer them during the Winter Break, Spring Break and immediately after Graduation. Be on the look-out for our e-blasts about them, as well for e-blasts about other trips we are developing. They are your opportunity to learn more about our Franciscan Service Immersion Trips – including how to apply.

 

 

 

 

Here in the “City of Brotherly Love,” students serve at St. Francis Inn Ministries, where Franciscans have been feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and serving the poorest of Philadelphia’s poor with respect and humility since 1978. Students stay in the volunteer house during their time at “The Inn,” where they work side-by-side with the local Franciscan Community, as well as with women and men of the neighborhood. To learn more about this Franciscan Service Immersion Trip, click the image above to watch our video clip. For more information about St. Francis Inn Ministries, please visit its website: http://stfrancisinn.org/.

 

 

 

Here in self-proclaimed “Hub of the Universe,” students serve at St. Francis House. Founded in 1985, St. Francis House is a model of full-service outreach to homeless women and men not only for the city of Boston, but cities throughout the world. During the service at St. Francis House, students stay down the street with the local Franciscan Community at St. Anthony Shrine, where they also assist in the Shrine’s food pantry. To learn more about this Franciscan Service Immersion Trip, click the image above to watch our video clip. For more information about St. Francis House, please visit its website: http://www.stfrancishouse.org.

 

 

 

Jamaica is a jewel of the West Indies, whose people are rightly proud of their nation’s rich history and culture. It is also home of some of the poorest people in our hemisphere. In Jamaica, students share in the work of Franciscan Ministries, assisting local community leaders to make their communities into places where people can live with dignity and children grow up with love. While in Kingston, students stay at Immaculate Conception Hostel, which is located on the secure property of Immaculate Conception High School.

 

 

 

Alaska is known as America’s “Last Frontier” – and for more reasons than its unspoiled natural beauty. In the city of Bethel (population 7,000!), we work with agencies that are finding innovative solutions to such “big city” problems as education reform, systemic poverty, care for the elderly, and domestic violence. Chief among their treasured resources is the wisdom of the Yup’ik people, the region’s Native American community. Yup’ik community leaders offer workshops in their native language, dance, arts, and wider culture. Students are guests of Immaculate Conception Parish during their stay in Bethel, where they share in an intense experience of simple communal living.

 

 

 

In this for-credit, academic service learning course, students travel to the Republic of either Belarus or Lithuanian to work side-by-side with local communities dedicated to restoring Jewish cemeteries desecrated and destroyed during the Holocaust. Through classroom study and hands on experience, students learn about the Holocaust, the rich heritage and enduring faith of the Jewish people, and the work of Jews and Christians together for peace and justice in our world today.

 

This Franciscan study/service immersion trip is run in collaboration with the Damietta Cross Cultural Center and Restoration of Eastern European Jewish Cemeteries, Inc. To learn more about this course, see the College’s Course Catalogue. It is listed as ATDV 250: Jewish Cemetery Restoration in Belarus. For more information about Restoration of Eastern European Jewish Cemeteries, Inc., please visit its website: http://restorejcem.org/.

 

 

 

Students who have already participated in an FCSA Franciscan Service Immersion Trip, or a trip sponsored by one of the Clubs with which FCSA is affiliated, are eligible to become Student Leaders for future trips. Student Leaders help to plan the Franciscan Service Immersion Trips in which they participate. A modest stipend is given to every Student Leader, to help defray the cost of the Service Immersion Trip. Be on the lookout for e-blasts on how to apply to become a Student Leader.