Published: March 2008
More than 500 students, families, and friends packed St. Ignatius Church on the afternoon of February 29 to attend “Sending Forth” Mass. Held for undergraduates departing for Appalachia Volunteers community service trips during spring break, the gathering was characterized as a “commissioning Mass” by Donald MacMillan, SJ, who presided. “We pray that they travel well, that they learn and teach, and that they have the experience of serving others.”
Following Mass, some 600 undergraduates embarked to 36 sites in seven states, from Pennsylvania to Louisiana, to construct and renovate homes, run soup kitchens, repair public facilities, and provide other services to needy communities. A 13-student leadership council selected the sites, in partnership with such organizations as Habitat for Humanity, the Southeast Community Assistance Project, and individual parishes and community groups, according to Tamara Liddell of Campus Ministry, which has sponsored student service missions to Appalachia for 30 years. She said that participating students commit not only spring break, but time throughout the year for training, organizing trips, and fundraising, which, along with grants from individual donors and institutions, generated the $289,000 necessary to support all of this year’s program expenses.