Volunteers from the Brother David Darst Center for Justice and Peace, Spirituality and Education in Chicago stand with students and an advisor from St. Ambrose University-Davenport during a service trip last month. Next to the volunteers are Devin Proctor, Nicky Gant, Ryan Hoerner, Amelia Von Alexander and Jayden Ambrose on a break at a soup kitchen.
By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — A new opportunity during winter break gave four St. Ambrose University student leaders with Ambrosians for Peace and Justice an opportunity to explore the root causes of injustice.
They gained valuable insights and “really stretched themselves to expand their comfort zone across language, cultural and lifestyle barriers,” said Nicky Gant, service and justice coordinator for campus ministry. “It was an awesome experience.”
The brief trip Jan. 12-15 to the Brother David Darst Center for Justice and Peace, Spirituality and Education in Chicago focused on Catholic Social Teaching and service. “It is rooted in the Lasallian tradition and also deeply connected with the Sisters of Mercy,” Gant said. The Darst Center “would be an outstanding host organization for all the high schools and colleges in our diocese to know about.”
The students and Gant served at food banks and a soup kitchen and learned about community organizing from the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness. “The students were so engaged they opted to stay for an extra service project at San Miguel School on Wednesday afternoon, so we didn’t get home until late that night.”
Jayden Ambrose, a junior studying exercise science on the pre-medical track, wanted to get more involved in social work. “I didn’t really know where to start. I have never been on a trip like this before but it exceeded any expectations I could have had.” St. Ambrose has “incredible resources for service, so it was the perfect opportunity,” she said. “It gave me a chance to learn lots of things that I wouldn’t know otherwise and I got to grow closer to those in my group as well.”
Taking a few days off during winter break allowed Ambrose to “give back to the community and learn about some of the issues that Chicago has been facing. I felt it was the most worthwhile and important thing I could do with my time off from school. I learned about things we could do to help reverse and improve these issues.”
Small-group discussions were a highlight for Ambrose. “We all took away different lessons and feelings from each other and the places where we volunteered. And I liked processing all of that with everyone. We grew so close so quickly and that is hard to come by.”
The importance of small acts of kindness and the huge differences they can make struck her most. “It was a theme shown within every organization we visited,” she said. Seeing that message in action “was truly memorable and something I will hold with me forever,” she said.
Gant said St. Ambrose University usually offers spring break trips for service projects. She hopes the university will be able to offer fall and winter break trips next year.
