Christmas on the Hill

Decenber 5, 2009

Beginning in September and led by two student coordinators, 20-30 students, faculty and staff begin planning Spring Hill College's annual Christmas celebration. The evening includes a Christmas dinner/party complete with carols, for both the refugees and the campus community.

Christmas on the Hill centers on a campus-wide outreach effort coordinated through the Catholic Social Services Refugee Resettlement Office in Mobile. Each residence hall on campus teams with faculty and staff to sponsor families who recently resettled in Mobile as political or economic refugees. Families in the past have come from Bosnia, Cuba, Vietnam, Iran, The Sudan, Serbia, The Congo and Sierra Leone.

Money raised by the college community is used to buy household and personal items to ease the resettlement process for the families. On the night of Christmas on the Hill, students, faculty and staff bring the families to campus for the celebration.

March for Life

January 23-24, 2009

The SHC Pro Life club sends a delegation of students to Washington, DC for the annual March for Life. The students attend the march with nearly 1 million pro-life advocates from around the country. The trip is planned by the club, under the leadership of their president.

Mardi Gras Break Immersion Trips

February 21-March 1, 2009

During Mardi Gras Break, three groups of 8-12 students and faculty/staff will  travel to international work sites in Belize and Guatemala.

Students last year spent time in Belize building homes for needy families. They work alongside international Jesuit Volunteer Corps members, Hand-in Hand ministries and members of the local community. The experience challenges students to grow in their personal faith through immersion into the lives of the marginalized of the world. Funds for the trip are raised through end of the semester exam-a-grams, student fund-raising and through the generosity of donors and sponsors of Campus Ministry activities.

Pictures from 2005 trips: http://www.shc.edu/gallery/belize2005

Pictures from 2004 trips: http://www.shc.edu/gallery/belize2004

School of the Americas Protest and Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice

November 21-23, 2008

Each year a group of students, faculty and staff from Spring Hill travel to Columbus, GA to join in solidarity with other Jesuit institutions at the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice. The teach-in begins on Friday evening and culminates in an unforgettable Liturgy on Saturday evening attended by thousands in the Columbus Convention Center.

The weekend concludes with a day-long protest at Fort Benning which honors the six Jesuit martyrs and their co-workers murdered in El Salvador and the thousands of innocent people who were victims of crimes committed by graduates of the U.S. Army training school.

Ignatian Solidarity Network Newsletter

Students for Justice

The S/J’s are dedicated to “making justice happen” on campus and in the community. Started immediately upon the return from the School of the Americas protest in 2003, this group sought to make justice a year-round priority on campus. They helped make fair trade coffee available in our Campus Center, registered 80 students to vote through a Voter Registration Drive, co-hosted a Hunger Banquet with our campus Habitat for Humanity chapter, which is an interactive experience seeking to address hunger, poverty and inequality in our world. The event featured a speaker from the Mobile Habitat for Humanity affiliate.

The group raised money for Heifer International, an organization dedicated to promoting self-sufficiency at 400 sites in 75 countries throughout the world. The money is used to help raise livestock and train locals in caring for these animals. The Students for Justice have plans to continue these efforts in the upcoming year as well.

Faith/Justice Links

Catholic Social Teaching and Social Justice
http://www.osjspm.org/

Legislative and Social Action
http://www.usccb.org/faithfulcitizenship/index.htm
http://www.networklobby.org
http://www.nccbuscc.org/sdwp/placeatthetable/advocacy.htm
http://www.paxchristiusa.org/
http://www.ignatiansolidarity.net/isn_view/servlet/resourcelist.ResourceList?rsListID=0

Poverty, Homelessness, and Hunger
http://www.usccb.org/cchd/povertyusa/index.htm
http://www.hungerbanquet.org
http://www.bread.org/
http://www.oxfamamerica.org

School of the Americas Watch
http://www.soaw.org/new/

Other Social Justice Interest Websites
http://www.catholicworker.org/
http://www.vatican.va/