King’s Collegestudents are putting their service heads, hearts and hands into action this week, demonstrating the elements of a truly authentic Holy Cross education:
- Mind:seeking understanding through the integration of faith and reason
- Heart:discerning our personal vocation in service to the Church and world
- Zeal:fueling the desire to offer our gifts for the good of all people
- Family:embracing Christian community as the context for lifelong formation
- Hope:trusting in the cross and God’s promise of the kingdom.
“Justice Week” at King’s kicked off on Monday when students began a “60-Hour Homeless Experience.” Student volunteers have set up a cardboard box ‘village’ outside on campus’ Monarch Court. As a show of support of solidarity with the homeless, the students set up the village Monday morning at 8 a.m. and will sleep outside Monday and Tuesday nights in the boxes with only blankets to keep them warm. The experience will wrap up Wednesday night at 8 p.m. with a candlelight ceremony. The participating students are also collecting donations for local homeless organizations and shelters in the Wilkes-Barre, Pa., area.
Students, faculty and staff are also partnering withWilkes University and Luzerne County Community College this week to participate in the“Empty Bowls” project.For $15, people buy a clay bowl handmade by local artists and share a simple meal of soup and bread. The bowl is kept as a reminder of all the empty bowls in the world and those suffering from hunger. The funds raise will go to area food banks. Last year the event raised $11,000.
On Thursday, Nov. 21, the King’s community will also participate in the Oxfam Hunger Banquet to be held inMoreau Auditorium. The luck of the draw will determine where dinner guests will sit at the banquet and how much they will be given to eat.Each participant will draw a character card representing the United States’ low, middle, and high income classes — representing just as in real life how some of us are born into relative prosperity and others into poverty.
Other “Justice Week” activities that King’s students can or did participate in, include:
- “Undie Sunday” – donations of new underwear, socks or nearly new neckties were collected on Sunday campus Masses on Nov. 17.
- “Weigh the Waste Marketplace” – all week long, volunteers will measure how much food goes to waste or is unused in Kings’ campus dining halls. Previous days’ totals will be published the following morning.
- “Hunger Fast in the Dining Hall” – students can give up dinners from their meal plans on Thursday night. The money will be donated the Commission of Economic Opportunity Food Bank.Those students without meal plans can choose to donate cash.
- “Caring Cases” – cases of food will be purchased by campus groups and put on display Friday, Nov. 22. The Caring Cases will be donated to REACH, a Wilkes-Barre homeless drop-in center and emergency food program.
- “King’s Got Talent” – students will show off their best talents for a good cause. Audience members are invited to bring in canned goods or donate money as the price of admission. The donations will be benefit the McGlynn Learning Center. The Center is for Wilkes-Barre children who live in subsidized housing units. It’s located near King’s campus, so many students volunteer at the Center as tutors and mentors.
- On Saturday, Nov. 23, students can sign up to volunteer to prepare Thanksgiving food boxes at theCommission of Economic Opportunity Food Bank
