Community Service

The Ministry office is located on the second floor room 270 of the Stritch School of Medicine building at Loyola Medical Center, 2160 South First Avenue in Maywood.

COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES 2008

“Community Night” Homeless Outreach – Every Wednesday, Loyola medical students make bag lunches and deliver them to people who are homeless on Lower Wacker Drive and in local parks. Nearly all of the food is donated from local businesses including: Great Harvest Bread, Prairie Bread Kitchen, Starbucks, & Ultra Foods. Most weeks the students and some staff members meet at the Jesuit Residence in Oak Park to make the sandwiches and pack the lunches. It is a great experience not only to serve the most vulnerable who live on our city streets, but to build community together, as well.

Fall Urban Plunge – During Fall Break, Ministry Staff organize with students the Fall Urban Plunge, which generally takes place over 2 days in a local Chicago neighborhood. The group stays overnight in a local church or shelter (even sometimes with families) and spends the days doing community service and learning about life in the community where they are serving. Some projects that they have worked with and learned about are: soup kitchens and food pantries, schools and after school programs, drug/alcohol rehab centers, medical clinics, gang intervention centers, community centers, ESL programs, and community development projects. The Urban Plunge has taken place in the following communities since its inception in 2001: Pilsen/Little Village, Austin, Lawndale, & Garfield Park. All of these communities are in Chicago’s West/Southwest Side. This coming year, we hope to offer an Urban Plunge in the Maywood community.

Hunger Week – A more than thirty-year tradition at Loyola, Hunger Week takes place in October, and is an amazing week filled with programs and events designed to:

• Raise awareness about the continuing hunger epidemic in our world.
• Raise funds to support organizations dedicated to ending hunger, both locally and globally.

Hunger Week is spearheaded by University Ministry Staff, but it is really a student effort with collaboration from many individual students and student organizations such as: Physicians for Human Rights, Family Medicine Interest Group, Student National Medical Association, Medical Student Union, and Class Officers.

In recent years, over $5000 has been raised each year through events such as:Hunger Week Fast, Hoops for Hunger 3 on 3 Basketball Tourney, Hunger Awareness Dinner, Coffee House Talent Show, Pennies Competition, Underserved Area Physician Panel, Coat Drive, Canned Food Drive, and other initiatives.

Recipients of Funds from Hunger Week include: Oxfam International, Concern USA, The Heifer Project, Santa Luisa Nutrition Center in Dolores, Guatemala, Las Mercedes Nutrition Center in El Progreso, Honduras, Greater Chicago Food Depository, Franciscan Outreach, Loyola SSOM “Community Night” Homeless Outreach, St. Pius Soup Kitchen in Pilsen, St. Procopius in Pilsen, Our Lady of Lourdes Food Pantry, Rock of Ages Baptist Church in Maywood, and many other individuals and organizations.

Thanksgiving Baskets – Loyola Stritch medical students organize, with the support of University Ministry, Thanksgiving Baskets to provide a meal for local needy families. Each year, over 300 baskets are donated from various individuals representing every corner of the Loyola Health System community, from Neurosurgery to Physical Plants & Grounds. Baskets consist of canned goods, vegetables, desserts, and a gift certificate to buy a turkey, and often include “extras” such as tablecloths, toys for kids, candles with candleholders, and other extra “goodies” that the donors decide to give. Students deliver these baskets before Thanksgiving to needy families in Maywood, and in Chicago’s West and South sides.

St Vincent DePaul Homeless Outreach Day – Loyola SSOM medical students and physicians team up with the St Vincent DePaul Center on Chicago’s North side for their annual Thanksgiving event for local homeless people. Clinical students triage the guests with the support of Paul Hering, M.D., offer basic screenings and provide referrals. First & Second Year students serve as hosts for the guests, assisting them with services that include: donated clothing, shoes, and sleeping bags, a Thanksgiving dinner, haircuts, medical and podiatry services, and many other services.

AIDS Week – Like Hunger Week, AIDS Week at SSOM is a collaborative effort. Organized by SSOM’s chapter of Physicians for Human Rights, AIDS Week takes place in early March and is a week of events to raise awareness of the devastating worldwide AIDS pandemic, the disparities in access to treatment, the heroic people who have dedicated their lives to fighting HIV/AIDS, and many more topics. In addition, funds raised from AIDS Week have benefited among other initiative, the following organizations in Africa working to support people with HIV/AIDS: Nyumbani in Kenya, and Upendo Village in Tanzania.

Student Organizations & Student Affairs offer other Community Service Opportunities including (but not limited to):

*Special Friends – Medical Students are paired up with a child with cancer in the peds-oncology unit. They serve as a mentor, playmate, & support for the child and his/her family.

*Community Health Clinic Night on Tuesdays – Free Clinic in Humboldt Park neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side – Serves primarily Puerto Rican & Polish Immigrant families. Loyola students & physicians run the clinic on Tuesday nights by volunteering their time seeing patients. This is organized by the student organization “Students for a Healthy Community”

*STATS (Students Teaching AIDS to Students) Students travel to local schools to educate children/teens about AIDS & other STDs.

STATS(Students Teaching AIDS to Students) – Students travel to local schools and youth centers to educate teens about AIDS and other STDs.