Cumberland Native Rebecca Swiszcz Spending Spring Break Helping Others

2015 Mar 4

Cumberland native Rebecca M Swiszcz will be traveling to Kentucky next week during Stonehill College's spring break as apart of its H.O.P.E. Service Immersion Program.

The HOPE Kentucky group will work with the Christian Appalachian Project to repair and construct homes in Eastern Kentucky. The main challenges this area faces are poverty and a lack of opportunity for growth and upward mobility. This HOPE group will be taking part in Work Fest, which happens annually and involves college students from around the country coming together to serve. Everyone will split into groups and will work with one family for the entire week. This opportunity allows the participants to learn about their families’ stories and create strong relationships with them.

Students who participate in the H.O.P.E. program form community with one another during the five months leading up to their trip. They learn about the culture, history and issues of social injustice in the communities they are destined to visit and serve.

The trips themselves are truly immersive experiences, challenging students to engage the four tenets of H.O.P.E.:

• Honoring our neighbor
• Organizing for justice
• Practicing peace
• Encountering God

Upon their return, students are encouraged to reflect on their experiences and to integrate the pursuit of social justice into their day-to-day lives.

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Stonehill is a selective Catholic college located near Boston on a beautiful 384-acre campus in Easton, Massachusetts. With a student-faculty ratio of 13:1, the College engages over 2,500 students in 80+ rigorous academic programs in the liberal arts, sciences, and pre-professional fields. The Stonehill community helps students to develop the knowledge, skills, and character to meet their professional goals and to live lives of purpose and integrity.