Annually, the ten residence halls at University of Portland participate in a friendly competition to see which community can raise the most money for their chosen Holy Cross Mission Center mission project(s). This competition is a long running tradition and has been successful in connecting UP students to the international mission of Holy Cross.
Student leaders and hall staff work hard to imagine creative events for the UP community. In an effort to raise money, students planned lip sync battles (Kenna Hall) and hosted UP artists as they showed off their talents (Christie Hall). Games of sand volleyball were hosted (Shipstad Hall) and Candy-grams sent out to Valentine’s Day sweethearts (Corrado Hall). Students enjoyed wine tasting and Oktoberfest at Haggerty & Tyson all to support education. Wanting to throw it back, dorms planned spin-offs of a few classic gameshows, including Trivia Night (Fields Hall) and Family Feud (Lund Family Hall). Additionally, the traditional Casino Night (Schoenfeldt Hall) and a live auction event (Villa Maria) made an appearance. The women of Mehling hosted the Fall Ball and Fields introduced a new style of fundraising with Certificates of Donations as gifts and memorials. If you can believe it this list of event is just the tip of the iceberg; in total, more than 30 fundraising events/campaigns were held at UP during the 2017-2018 school year! From these events, UP dorms raised just shy of $10,000 for nine mission projects.
Funds raised benefited the following ministries:
- Holy Cross School in Plaisance, Haiti
- Yancana Huasy in Canto Grande, Lima, Peru
- Colegio Fe Alegría 25 in Canto Grande, Lima, Peru
- Fundación Moreau (Fundamor) in Santiago, Chile
- La Fuente Project of San Roque Parish in Santiago, Chile
- Joseph Hill Secondary School in Kyaruzosi, Uganda
- Holy Cross Lake View Secondary School in Jinja, Uganda
- Veronica’s Place in Dandora, Nairobi, Kenya
- St. Marianne Cope Young Women’s Education Project in Bangladesh
The work these Holy Cross-formed students have put into raising awareness and money for their Holy Cross Global Family is truly inspiring. The HCMC works closely with each residence hall to share the beauty of the international mission and each mission project through providing information, pictures, and stories to the students. Together, the HCMC and the halls, are unifying UP students with their brothers and sister around the globe.
Discernable by the creativity and sheer number of events, it is obvious students and staff put in many hours of planning to help their fellow Pilots learn and connect with the mission projects, which serve their poor and vulnerable brothers and sisters. The commitment these students have shown to the international mission of Holy Cross is a model for other schools, students, and staff who wish to connect intimately with the missions. Additionally, it is exemplarily that UP has all dorms connecting with the missions; 100% participation of residence halls is amazing! We are enthusiastic about our relationship with UP and continue to work across all our campuses to teach and connect our students with their global Holy Cross family.
The UP students are truly immersing themselves in the international mission of Holy Cross and we are so grateful and proud of them as they cross borders and build bridges. A special thank you to the University of Portland and all those who worked to make this year another success in connecting with the global Holy Cross Family. Thank you!
