Each Advent, Gesu "plants" a Christmas tree near the east altars and invites parishioners to trim this Advent Mitten Tree. The first Sunday of Advent marks the start of our annual-sharing project for the home with gifts of warmth: new mittens, caps, scarves and gloves for homeless children and adults of several shelters for Milwaukee’s homeless and victims of domestic violence. Since 2002, we have also planted a Haiti Children’s Tree, which parishioners decorate with bars of soap, toothpaste and brushes, underwear, shoes and socks, and hair clips and ribbons for the children of St. Jude, our twin parish in Haiti.

Since 2007, Project Homeless Connect is a one-day event held at Creighton that serves as a "one-stop shop", connecting homeless individuals to needed services, including: housing, healthcare, legal resources, Social Security, food-stamp benefits, and employment. Creighton University President Fr. John Schlegel who has served as chair and host of the event noted in 2010: 330 individuals were provided housing information, 80 moved into housing, more than 100 have received new dentures, and 540 received some form of health care-related service and of those 80 percent receiving follow-up treatment.

Midnight Run is a volunteer service program which began in 1988. It focuses on the particular needs of the hungry and homeless people living in the community around Marquette. This program is organized by a coordinating team of Marquette students under the supervision of Campus Ministry. Volunteers serve meals and work in area meal programs and shelters. Service in Midnight Run is meant to challenge students to integrate their experiences with their faith. Midnight Run's philosophy is rooted in the gospel, with Matthew chapter 25 serving as its hallmark. Midnight Run is based on the fundamental belief in the dignity and worth of all persons and strives to cultivate a sense of responsibility for caring for all members of our community.

For over 20 years, the campus ministry program Midnight Run has utilized voluntary direct service (primarily nutrition and meal outreach) as its primary tool to “build relationships, and walk with those who are hungry, homeless, or suffer the consequences of society's unjust structures, honoring the dignity and worth of all.” Through reflection on service Midnight Run seeks to create men and women of service and develop agents of positive social change.

Nativity Fellows are full-time members of the Nativity staff. They teach an average of 2-4 class periods per day while serving as advisors, tutors, proctors, coaches, nurses, janitors, drivers, monitors and all other responsibilities that promote the success of the students’ well-being.

Casa Maria is the community house where fellows serving in Worcester's Nativity School reside.  Life in Casa Maria is an opportunity to form community and to engage in the tough work of sharing responsibility with each other for the myriad details which make life together possible and worth the effort. It is also a unique opportunity to engage in “simple living. ”Simple living" offers Nativity Fellows a chance to “feel” what life on a tight budget means, particularly as the overwhelming majority of Nativity families struggle to make ends meet. The Casa Maria Community attempts to gain a deeper sense of the difficult conditions from which Nativity students come.

Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission was founded in 1986 by community residents and the California Province of Jesuits. It has grown into a highly effective community - building organization. Proyecto Pastoral is committed to involving local community members in the planning, design and implementation of its programs. One third of the Proyecto Pastoral Board of Directors is comprised by local community residents responding to community identified needs enabling Proyecto Pastoral to make a significant impact in the lives of local families. Anticipating the needs of the community enables Proyecto Pastoral in being an ever evolving organization that whose success lies not only in being dynamic but understanding the real issues. Proyecto Pastoral serves over 2,500 children, youth and families annually through its five programs.

Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission is a community building organization whose mission is to provide training, education and social services with the Pico- Aliso/Boyle Heights district of East Los Angeles. Proyecto Pastoral coordinates five community based programs.

ANGEL TREE ministry arranges for and delivers Christmas gifts for children whose parents are in prison.
Contact: Dan & Brandi D’Orazio, dgdorazio@gmail.com

IGNATIAN HELPERS provide services for those who are recovering from surgery or otherwise incapacitated, including grocery shopping, meals and transportation to physical therapy.
Contact: Norma Hyder, shawgas29@verizon.net

IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY PROJECT offers overnight retreats and days of recollection for homeless men and women who are in transition.
Contact: Colleen Moore, cmoore@mdmercy.com and Marilyn Dunphy, mdunphy1974@gmail.com.

JESSE TREE ministry provides warm gloves, hats, sweaters, scarves and other essentials which are given to homeless men and women at Christmastime.
Contact: Norma Hyder, shawgas29@verizon.net

JUSTICE & PEACE: The Justice & Peace Committee is chiefly engaged in education and advocacy. It educates parishioners by circulating materials or organizing events that clarify and advocate the Church's social teaching on economic and political issues that impact peoples and cultures throughout the world. It also identifies particular programs or organizations working for domestic or international peace and justice in which St. Ignatius may actively participate. The Committee organizes monthly sales of Fair Trade coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, nuts, dried fruit, and olive oil, as well as periodic collections of groceries for the Catholic Worker Viva House.
Contact: Sharon Davis, nelly6362@aol.com

LOAVES & FISHES prepares and delivers meals and warm clothing to the poor and homeless in downtown Baltimore on Saturday and Sunday evenings from November to April.
Contact: Beth Leonard, bl7010@hotmail.com

MEALS FOR MY SISTER'S PLACE provides and serves lunch twice each month for homeless women and children who participate in programs at My Sister's Place.
Contact: Sue Cashman, susancashman@comcast.net

Parishioners help families in transitional housing by preparing and serving a meal and chaperoning an overnight at Visitation Parish.

Saint Vincent de Paul Society

The Immaculate Conception conference of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society provides individuals and families with either rent or utility assistance. Volunteers conduct telephone intake interviews at the parish offices downtown and schedule home visits to those who ask for assistance. At Thanksgiving Saint Vincent de Paul members also assemble and distribute food baskets to those in need. Currently there are eleven volunteers who focus primarily on residents of Central City and the Lower Garden District. Additional volunteers and material assistance are always welcome.

Volunteers are needed by the St. Vincent de Paul Society to visit and write vouchers for people who live within our parish boundaries for food, clothing, and sometimes furniture. Two members of the group meet with the individual or family, listen to their problems, Social Justice Committee and provide the appropriate assistance. Volunteers also go to Ozanam Inn one Sunday every other month to cook and feed lunch to approximately 300 homeless people. Volunteers also create Thanksgiving baskets to be given to the needy in Blessed Sacrament parish. In addition, volunteers organize an annual Christmas gift drive by erecting a Christmas tree and decorating it with ornaments that have the names of needy children on them. Parishioners are encouraged to take an ornament and purchase a gift. Volunteers collect the gifts and deliver them to the named children. Membership is open to any interested parishioner, and members meet on the first Sunday of every month after the 8:00 a.m. Mass.

The membership of this society is made up of Gesu parishioners whose work is to assist the needy of our par­ish family and support the diocesan efforts to help the poor of the city. The Society is a small group of people who respond to the Pastor’s request for assistance.

Placed under the patronage of St Vincent de Paul, the Society seeks, in a spirit of justice and charity, through person-to-person involvement of its members, to help those who are suffering.

Provides meals, fellowship and outreach every day of the week to homeless and addicted.

The poorest of the poor go to the McKenna Center each weekday to get a mail, take a shower, to get clean clothes, to ask for job and drug counseling and to experience a safe and drug-free environment. The McKenna Center provides or efficiently refers guests to any service a homeless man might need. The McKenna Center is the last daytime drop-in center for homeless men in the downtown Washington, DC area.

Located in 160-year-old Ss. Peter and Paul Jesuit Church parish, the Warming Center is people in mutual service to and with our neighbors, many of who live on the street, and whose realities include addiction, grief, shame, fear, impoverishment and/or mental impairment. Our mission is nurtured by Ignatian Spirituality, which is rooted in the spiritual experiences and writings of St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Jesuit order. This spirituality has been developed and adapted by Jesuits and lay people from its earliest beginnings. Today, the core of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola forms one’s relationships with God, one’s neighbor and oneself. The Warming Center offers the space necessary for building up these relationships.