Abby's House is a shelter for homeless, battered, and low income women and their children in the Worcester community. We open the shelter in the evenings, interact with the guests, and return to campus the following morning. Abby's House provides a safe, supportive environment for women in the community and Holy Cross volunteers to learn from one another. Evenings spent at the shelter are a great time to offer an ear to the stories and struggles of these women's lives.

Appalacia Service Project
Each year during Spring Break, Holy Cross students travel to Appalachia and the Gulf Coast to encounter the warmth and vitality of the people in these regions, particularly those who are economically poor or marginalized. While there, students offer their time in service to the local community in a variety of ways, such as:

• painting and home repairs
• elderly assistance
• environmental clean-up
• service in soup kitchens
• tutoring school children
• new housing construction (Katrina relief)

While students work by day, evenings are dedicated to prayerful reflection and discussion as well as attending local events in the community.

A Holy Cross tradition since 1984, the Spring Break Immersion Program began with a small group of students traveling to Kentucky. Since then, the program has grown to include sites in Virginia and West Virginia. In response to Hurricane Katrina, the program expanded again in 2006 to include New Orleans and other Gulf Coast sites. In 2009, a total of 265 students took part in the program.

Currently in its 22nd year, the Arrupe Immersion Program is a faith based program responding to the call to work for peace and justice in the world. This call is central to the Christian Scriptures and to the Jesuit mission of the College of the Holy Cross. 

• The Mexico Program is currently in its 19th year. The program seeks to provide students with and experience of the reality of life in Latin America through the eyes of the poor and in light of the Gospel.

The Jamaica Program seeks to offer Holy Cross students the opportunity to encounter the poor and marginalized of Jamaica through interpersonal dialogue and service, to learn about aspects of Jamaican culture through a series of speakers and to nurture and challenge their faith.

• The Kenya Program is our semester break program. Visit the Chaplains' Office to learn about their experiences and explore possibilities of being part of the next trip.

Best Buddies Colleges pairs people with intellectual disabilities in one-to-one friendships with college students. Without friends and family, we are alone. In the past, individuals with intellectual disabilities have not had the opportunity to have friends outside of their own environment. By becoming a College Buddy, volunteers offer a Buddy the chance to explore a new way of life.

Best Buddies Colleges is the premise upon which the international organization of Best Buddies began. The mission of Best Buddies Colleges is to provide an opportunity for college students to be matched in a one-to-one friendship with individuals who have intellectual disabilities. Social experiences and relationships are a part of life; unfortunately, individuals with intellectual disabilities have historically been excluded from many of the social opportunities that most people enjoy. By becoming a college buddy, you will not only befriend someone with a developmental disability, but you will also learn about yourself in the process.

Every year students enrolled in the Carroll School of Management Honors Program come to campus a week prior to the start of classes to volunteer in and around the city of Boston.  The focus of the event is to "first serve" the community before pursuing our own academic goals.  First Serve jumpstarts a commitment to serving our community while also emphasizing freshman integration through team-building activities.

Boston College offers over 20 programs, sponsored by various departments, providing students opportunities for real-life, community-based learning experience both at home and abroad. The programs foster a respect for the people, history, and cultures present in the countries or areas visited; a recognition of God's presence in the lives and cultures of the people we encounter; and a willingness to be challenged personally by the stories, the experiences, and the relationships that are encountered while on the trip. They are designed to provide an educational experience for students, using what is often referred to as the "action/reflection model". These programs are cognizant of the university's larger Jesuit mission of forming "men and women for others", and attentive to the spiritual formation of students who travel to serve and learn in impoverished areas. They include time for community building, education, and reflection before, during, and after the trip in order to help participants process and appropriate their shared and individual experiences. They not only encourage the growth and formation of our student participants, but should also contribute something positive toward fostering greater justice in the world. Key to this is the relationship nurtured with the host organizations and the solidarity that develops over time between Boston College and the communities visited. These opportunities travel over winter, spring, or summer breaks, and some programs travel multiple times per year.
 

Urban immersion, 4-Boston, Appalachia Volunteers, Ignacio Volunteers, Mexico Experience, Jamaica Experience, Dominican Republic Summer Camp, Belize, Nicaragua, Mexico, El Salvador

The Immigration and Asylum Externship Program provides students with the opportunity to develop their immigration lawyering skills and exposes them to the realities of immigration practice.  Participants work either off campus at a firm or non-profit, or on campus with the Post-Deportation Human Rights Project.
 

This student organization is appointed by the elected student government of the law school. They focus on researching immigration law.

The JRAP represents youth (with a focus on girls) who are in the delinquency system, comprehensively across systems, and until they reach majority.  JRAP representation uses the legal system to access social and community services and hold systems accountable, reducing the use of incarceration and supporting girls in their communities.  In addition to individual representation, the JRAP is involved in ongoing research and policy advocacy aimed at reducing incarceration and supporting youth in their communities

Named for its founder, a 1986 law school graduate, the Holocaust/Human Rights Project helps to ensure that the precedential value of Holocaust-related law is fully realized and applied to state-sponsored human rights violations today. The project also organizes major conferences to address specific legal issues related to the Holocaust and other human rights violations, such as the annual Kupferschmid lecture.

Boston College Legal Assistance Bureau (BCLAB) is a community legal services office founded by Boston College law students in 1968 and funded by Boston College Law School and through grants from Greater Boston Legal Services and Springwell Corporation.

We advise and represent clients with a variety of legal problems, including primarily domestic violence prevention, family law, landlord-tenant disputes, Social Security disability appeals. Pursuant to the Massachusetts student practice rule (SJC 3:03), students supervised by a faculty of supervising attorneys and a clinical social worker are certified to represent clients in every aspect of litigation, including appearing in court and at federal and state administrative hearings.
 

The Lynch School of Education Office for Students and Outreach (Campion 104) will be sponsoring several service trips during the upcoming academic year.  The purpose of these trips is to offer students an opportunity to interact with people from many different backgrounds.  We believe that by immersing ourselves in the many different communities we are able to gain a better understanding of the community and its need.
 

Fr. Fred Enman established Matthew 25 in the early 90s with the mission of providing affordable housing to families in need. Matthew 25 refurbishes old houses and rents them to low income families at 25 percent of their yearly income. Matthew 25 works closely with the Worcester Vocational School for assistance with skilled labor, such as carpentry, electricity, and plumbing.  College students, including members of Crusader Council help with painting, landscaping, and other odd jobs.

University of Capetown: Semester or full-year program in Cape Town for students across the disciplines. UCT enrollment is open to students in the humanities, arts, social sciences, science, and business. Courses of particular interest to international students address local content and focus on the African continent. These courses are grouped according to the following themes: historical perspectives, development and democracy, southern African environments, and cultural Africa.

Rhodes University: Semester or full-year program in Grahamstown for students across the disciplines. Excellent opportunities for service learning. Grahamstown offers excellent supervised community service opportunities. Under the dedicated leadership of BC’s on-site coordinator, Prof. Geoffrey Antrobus, students participate in customized service placements in local hospitals, shelters, day care centers, schools, soup kitchens, senior centers, and AIDS education projects.
 

This course addresses the comparative and international politics of the Gulf States, with emphasis on Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. It analyzes state formation, state-society relations, democratization, the rise of Islamism and regime stability, foreign policies, regional politics, and the politics of OPEC and international oil markets.  It also assesses the effects of oil on domestic politics and foreign policy, including the trade-offs of wealth for regional power and political continuity. Finally, it highlights pressures for political liberalization and growth in civil society. Students will visit sites of political, religious, and historical significance throughout Kuwait and the Gulf, attend presentations at the National Assembly and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and take part in joint sessions with English-speaking Kuwaiti students of the same age. 
 

Semester or full-year program in Ifrane at a small, prestigious institution with an English-language curriculum. Courses in business, management, the humanities, including Islamic Studies, Arabic language, and across the disciplines. Opportunities for service and volunteer work. Multilingual environment.