Wellesley Native Madeline Fahey Spending Spring Break Helping Others

2015 Mar 4

Wellesley native Madeline Lane Fahey will be traveling to Oregon next week during Stonehill College's spring break as apart of its H.O.P.E. Service Immersion Program.

The trip focuses on the social justice issues of hunger and homelessness. Volunteers will mainly serve with the hospitality ministry at St. Andre Bessette Church in downtown Portland. Some of the community programs run by St. Andre include an art program, a foot care program, a food pantry, and fellowship groups. Participants will also engage in service with the following organizations: Operation Nightwatch, Central City Concern, and L'Arche Portland. During the week long service immersion trip, students will learn about poverty in the Portland area and build community with those who are hungry, homeless, mentally ill, recovering form drug addiction and abuse, and living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

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.