Our Crowdfunding Groups
Who: We are a diverse group of students from Duquesne University carrying the spiritan tradition continuing on its 312th year of service to communities across the world. Through the Cross Cultural Mission Experience (CCME) students immerse themselves into a world of poverty and faith, working as allies with the community members and understanding their hardships. This year the 2015 mission group is starting a new chapter of service to urban communities across the country where Spiritans serve.
What: The Students of Duquesne University are embarking on a cross cultural mission experience to several different urban areas. One of the trips will be traveling to Arlington, VA and Baltimore, MD while the other students will be going to Chicago, IL and Dayton, OH. In these cities we hope to meet new people, experience different cultures from our own and try to understand the situations many people find themselves in. Our aim is to assist in different ways, but above all create a fellowship with the people we meet. As we spend time immersed in these communities, we will be offering assistance and listening to stories. Some of the goals we hope to accomplish include learning about environmentally friendly cleaning products and immigrant workers, some clean ups as well as HIV clinics and hospice environments, food kitchens and homeless shelters .
Where: One of the groups is traveling to Arlington, Virginia and West Baltimore, Maryland. They plan on splitting up their time between the St. Edwards church in West Baltimore and Our Lady Queen of Peace in Arlington. The second group is traveling to Dayton, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois. They are spending the first part of their trip with St. Ambrose in Chicago and the second part with the Resurrection parish and a few other groups in Dayton.
We are so excited to leave for Arlington, Virginia and Chicago, Illinois on February 28, the beginning of Spring Break 2015. We will spend several days in these cities before hitting the road again on Thursday, March 5 for Baltimore, Maryland and Dayton, Ohio. Then, we will return to Pittsburgh on Sunday, March 8 just in time to return to classes on Monday.
Instead of vacationing, we chose to go on an alternative spring break to these urban areas. We want to use this break from our academics to focus our time on those living on the margins while building relationships with each other and the local communities. We hope these relationships will allow people to see that they are not alone. We will take the values we have learned through Duquesne’s Spiritan mission and live them out beyond the bridges of Pittsburgh.
A $10 donation will pay for cleaning supplies for a Duquesne Student and a member of St Edward's Church, West Baltimore, during the Great Spring Clean Out!
A $15 donation will pay for dinner for four people at the Kenwood Community Kitchen in Chicago where Duquesne Students will be serving.
A $20 donation will pay for blankets donated to the homeless shelters served by St. Vincent de Paul Society in both Washington, DC/Baltimore and Dayton/Chicago.
