Service has long been a part of Saint Mary’s mission as a Lasallian Catholic University, and our faculty, staff, and students are showing their commitment to bettering their communities in a number of ways.
Saint Mary’s Athletics
Saint Mary’s student-athletes continue to serve as an example when it comes to community service.
Over the past year, student-athletes have volunteered at a number of campus and Winona community events that include: the Winona Friendship Center’s fall clean up, the Student Activity Committee’s Trunk or Treat, Minnesota Wild Special Hockey, Lasallian Day of Service, highway cleanups, and the Think Pink Color Run.
Athletes have accumulated nearly 1,400 hours of community service in the last 180 days. The following breaks down the hours accumulated by each team:
Women’s Hockey: 603 hours
Volleyball: 340 hours
Women’s Basketball: 172 hours
Men’s Baseball: 170 hours
Men’s Hockey: 106 hours
As a requirement to participate in athletics, student-athletes are required to complete 10 to 12 hours of community service over the course of the school year.
Campus Ministry
With the COVID-19 pandemic hindering opportunities to get out into the community and serve others, Campus Ministry is excited to reboot many of its volunteering options for students this school year.
For example, Campus Ministry has been working to get Buddies Club up and running once again. Buddies Club is a student organization in which students are paired with disabled individuals from the Winona community who are invited onto campus to play games, shoot hoops in the gym, and participate in other activities. The first gathering of Buddies Club is set for this coming Thursday.
Campus Ministry has also been sending students to volunteer every other week at the Catholic Worker House in Winona, which offers outreach to those experiencing homelessness. While at Catholic Worker House, the students help put together meals and serve a community.
Campus Ministry is also pleased to relaunch S.O.U.L. (Serving Others United In Love) trips, which will take place over the university’s spring break. This year, students will have the opportunity to participate in service projects in Arizona and on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana.
Lasallian Day of Service was also a major volunteering opportunity for Campus Ministry, with 90 students taking part in service opportunities. The service projects included the removal of invasive plants in the bluffs, a highway cleanup, and Chore Corps around Winona. Lasallian Day of Service was started by the Saint Mary’s Alumni Association as a day for alumni to volunteer in their communities in the spirit of the Lasallian mission of service to others. Each year alumni from around the nation join together in service on this day.
