Sturbridge Native Abigail Soraci Spending Spring Break Helping Others

2015 Mar 4

Sturbridge native Abigail N Soraci will be traveling to Tennessee next week during Stonehill College's spring break as apart of its H.O.P.E. Service Immersion Program.

HOPE Tennessee participants will have the opportunity of serving communities surrounding the Sunset Gap Community Center. They will be assisting them in home reconstruction for underprivileged families that would not be able to finance or execute repairs otherwise. Many people living in the part of Tennessee that this trip serves have been stricken by poverty. Participants will learn about the locals’ situations and their appreciated land. Other services and programs that the Sunset Gap Community Center offers include, but certainly are not limited to, food pantries, thrift shops, and bible camps.

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.