Service Activities

Campus Ministry offers a wide variety of options for students to engage in service

Service is an integral part of formation at St. Ambrose University, and Campus Ministry offers a wide variety of options for students to engage in service. Read the Campus Ministry Bulletin each week for service opportunities!

Service Trips - Our students take part in service trips, usually over winter and spring breaks, to places such as Chicago, East St. Louis, Mississippi, Kansas City, Eastern Kentucky. We also encourage students to bring their own ideas for service trips, doing what we can to help assist them. See where we went in past years below.

Service on Saturdays - Spend a Saturday morning or afternoon helping out with a local group, such as Cafe on Vine, Project Renewal, the Kahl Home, Winnie's Wishes resale store, and many more. Different service projects are offered every Saturday during the fall and spring semesters!

L'Arche Community - Campus Ministry has a relationship with the L'Arche community in Clinton, Iowa, and students frequently visit the community and spend time with the residents. L'Arche communities enable "people with and without disabilities to share their lives in communities of faith and respect." Click here to learn more about L'Arche.

Urban Plunge - Campus Ministry coordinates this service experience for our new First Year students during Welcome Week, held at the beginning of the fall semester each year. Students go out with their New Student Seminar groups into the community for a wide range of service projects in the Quad Cities area.

Bee the Difference Day - In collaboration with the Student Government Association and other organizations, students spend the day with outdoor fall tasks such as raking leaves and yard clean up to assist our community neighbors, especially those for whom such work can be difficult.

Get involved, or share your ideas with us!

Service Activities

Past Service Trips

Spend your fall, winter or spring break in service to those in need! Campus Ministry is proud to sponsor our students going on service trips all around the country.

Find an application for Spring Break Service trips at the Campus Ministry office each November. 

Spring Break Service Trips have included:

  • The Well of Mercy, Chicago, IL - Spending time with women in this maternity home for expecting mothers; babies; and toddlers. Also helped with meal preparation, childcare, and projects around the house
  • Living Lands & Waters (East Moline), Memphis, TN -  Caring for the environment by cleaning up the Mississippi River bank in Memphis
  • Holy Family Catholic Worker House, Kansas City, MO -  Walking with people experiencing homelessness as we serve meals, sort donations, and visit with people at various organizations

Past service trips have included:

  • Maggie's Place in Cleveland, OH - Spend time with women in this maternity home for expectant mothers before and after their baby's birth, helping with meal preparation and projects around the house
  • Hubbard House in East St. Louis, IL - Work at a shelter for families escaping from domestic violence, and support after-school programming, as well as other agencies in working to end poverty in a city in dire need
  • Christian Appalachian Project in Mt. Vernon, KY - Serve through building and home repair projects for rural communities in eastern Kentucky
  • Sacred Heart Southern Missions in Walls, MS - Serve in the five northern, rural counties of Mississippi through home repair projects, food pantries, and clothing programs
  • The Port Ministries in Chicago, IL - Help out at a free clinic, daycare center, after-school programming, and a bread truck which feeds the homeless and hungry.
  • Quad Cities area - Served several local organizations all in one weekend
  • Denver Urban Ministries in Denver, CO - Service at a variety of social service agencies and Urban Education program to gain a deeper understanding of poverty
  • Cass Community in Detroit, MI - Variety of service opportunities: food preparation in a soup kitchen, playing with kids at a homeless shelter, or helping with the vocational recycling center, a center for persons with special needs.
  • David School in David, KY- serving at David School in David, Kentucky
  • Spencer, WV  - experiencing life at an Appalachian Catholic Worker House in Spencer, West Virginia
  • Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in SD - cultural immersion and service trip in South Dakota


Let us know if you'd like to take part in a service trip and send us an email with your ideas!

Serving Our Community

Campus Ministry is proud of all the service that takes place at St. Ambrose University. The work and initiatives of all of our students, faculty, and staff reflect the mission of our university and speak to the Catholic faith and values lived out in our community.

2017-18 Service Hours

Students, faculty, and staff at St. Ambrose University once again responded to the call to serve this year. Our estimate of time spent in service is

180,271

THANK YOU to all students, faculty, and staff who gave of yourselves in service over the year. Here is where all those hours came from:

Co-Curricular Service: 40,422 hours

--Accounting Club: 28 hours
--Antioch retreat team: 340 hours
--Ambrosians for Peace & Justice: 163 hours
--Athletic Department: 6,904 hours
--Bee the Difference Day: 2,600 hours
--Bees Knees prayer ministry: 2,600 hours
--Bridge Bible Fellowship: 1,006 hours
--Campus Ministry Service Trip (4 trips): 1,000 hours
--Campus Ministry Confirmation Retreats: 167 hours
--Dance Marathon: 20,000 hours
--Enactus: 320 hours
--Engineering Club: 72 hours
--Fellowship of Christian Athletes: 110 hours
--Kappa Delta Pi: 185 hours
--Marching Band: 128 hours
--MAVO/Veterans Services: 102 hours
--Ministries in the Chapel: 1,504 hours
--Nurses Christian Fellowship: 20 hours
--PRISM: 208 hours
--Project Renewal tutoring, Halloween party & FitFest: 408 hours
--Psychology Club: 850 hours
--Residence Life: 650 hours
--School tutoring & mentoring (at Monroe, Peoria Schools, Sudlow): 199 hours 
--Senior Class Leadership team: 54 hours
--Service on Saturday: 390 hours
--Student Physical Therapy Organization: 66 hours
--WISE: 18 hours
--Individual Students' Service to Gigi's Playhouse, Hand in Hand, Rick's House of Hope, RiverBend FoodBank: 388 hours

Curricular Service: 138,114 hours

--Accounting: 512 hours
--Communications: 18 hours
--Education: 44,470 hours
--Engineering: 1,000 hours
--Honors Program: 1,125 hours
--Nursing: 35,409 hours
--Occupational Therapy: 22,864 hours
--Organizational Leadership: 160 hours
--Philosophy: 9 hours
--Physical Therapy: 1,100 hours
--Psychology: 26 hours
--Social Work: 28,776 hours
--Speech-Language Pathology: 480 hours
--Theology: 220 hours
--Urban Plunge: 1,470 hours
--Women & Gender Studies: 475 hours

Faculty/Staff Service: 1,735 hours

Contact


Tammy Norcross-Reitzler

Campus Ministry
Lower Chapel
518 W Locust St.
Davenport, IA 52722
563-333-6132
Ministry@sau.edu

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