SEND trips are student-led opportunities where Merrimack students, faculty and staff volunteer during their winter, spring or summer break to serve and immerse themselves in communities in other states or countries.
The program’s name comes from Isaiah 6:8, where the prophet Isaiah responds to God’s call by saying, “Here I Am, Send Me.”
Service opportunities through the Grace J. Palmisano Center for Campus Ministry give Merrimack students the opportunity to embody key aspects of our Augustinian heritage, which emphasizes intellectual, spiritual and personal growth through community life and service to others. Merrimack College has been participating in long-distance, weeklong service experiences for more than 50 years.
We hope that these programs draw you closer to God through reflecting on how your communal experience of doing service and working toward justice connects with and influences your individual spiritual journeys.
Ten Merrimack students and staff members visited Honduras during Spring Break. They worked on a clean water design with the community.
The trip was led by student leaders Antoni Piascik and Harrison Bell and advisors Vivian Villaman and Valeria Garcia.
Merrimack students were tasked with designing the most ecological and cost-effective freshwater system for a remote village of 87 residents in Santa Cruz, Tatumbla, Honduras
Merrimack students went to Athens, Greece where they shadowed doctors in a refugee clinic and helped members of underrepresented communities.
Ten Merrimack students built outhouses and bunk beds and chopped firewood for residents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Ten students and two advisors stayed at the Romero Center Ministries in Camden, New Jersey where they sorted food pantry donations, painted school classrooms and spent time with people in the community.
We hope our students will be able to use these interactions to develop a “faith that does justice” through reflecting on our four pillars: service, solidarity, community-friendship and reflection.
This pillar acknowledges the importance of giving back to others by way of action. Service can come in many forms, including sitting and talking to Ecuadorian people, serving lunch at a soup kitchen, or sorting food at a food bank. We believe that “service” is a lifestyle. Even though alternative break groups serve for only a week, this service is meant to inspire a deeper commitment to serving others in every aspect of life, especially as members of the Merrimack community.
This pillar points to the reality that we are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic and ideological differences. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be. Loving our neighbor has global dimensions in a shrinking world. On our trips, this takes the shape of humility and presence in the communities where we serve, recognizing the dignity of those we serve and acknowledging that we have as much to receive from those we are helping as we have to give. Simple living is an important element of practicing solidarity during our trips. We pack lightly, eat what is prepared for us, sleep in the spaces provided for us, and limit our use of technology so we can give of ourselves more freely to others. Each trip interprets simple living in their own way, whether it be through a community contract, a vow to use minimal resources or making it work on a tight budget.
This pillar highlights the importance of sharing experiences and building equal, just and loving relationships with one another. Inspired by the life and teaching of St. Augustine, we understand that the search for truth, wisdom, love and justice is best done in the company of others, all of us giving our gifts freely and receiving gratefully from one another. We come together as communities of participants who reflect together, serve and build relationships with the individuals and communities for whom we serve.
This pillar is the foundation of our program and is true to our Augustinian values that emphasize that knowing oneself is the key to truly knowing God and one another. Campus ministry staff and student leaders facilitate frequent reflection experiences before, during and after trips. These experiences are meant to help participants in our programs discover new perspectives about themselves – personally and spiritually. Additionally, reflection helps us engage with our service experiences on a deeper level by utilizing concepts in Catholic social teachings, such as the inherent dignity of the human person, our rights and responsibilities to others and solidarity.
An overarching goal of the SEND program is to work towards a more socially just society. We do this by examining our own lives, beliefs, and experiences; educating ourselves about systemic realities; participating in physical and spiritual work; and making connections with people and communities vulnerable to unjust systems, practices, and histories.
Finally, every dimension of our alternative break programs seek to embody the Augustinian values that inform the academic, social and spiritual dimensions of the Merrimack experience.
Fr. Ray preached how community is built through commitment and teamwork at the mass.
