Students Use Day for Service, Community Insight
September 8, 2009
More than 500 first-year and transfer students reached out to neighboring Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia communities on Sept. 5, as part of Georgetown’s Community Service Day.
The Community Service Day serves as one way for the university to introduce incoming students to the Jesuit traditions of service and social justice, said Suzanne Tarlov, associate director for the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service. She also hoped the Saturday projects would give the new residents “some insight into the social justice issues” being faced in their city.
Students traveled to participate in one of 19 different service projects that included gardening at Catholic Charities’ Mount Carmel House homeless shelter for women, outdoor work at Hardy Middle School in Northwest D.C., and food delivery with Food and Friends.
The Community Service Day comes almost a week before the Sept. 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, which was signed into law by President Obama in April.
