Community Service Days
Mack Gives Back is a community-wide series of service events commemorating two days of significance in Merrimack’s history – Veterans Day and St. Augustine’s birthday and programs throughout the year to support our neighbors in need.
About Mack Gives Back
Mack Gives Back Days were founded in 2012 by Merrimack’s vice president for mission and ministry, Father Raymond Dlugos, O.S.A.
More than a thousand faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends fan out across the Merrimack Valley and beyond to lend a helping hand to nonprofits and municipal agencies in need of assistance. Volunteers perform a number of services, including packaging food, raking leaves, picking up trash, stocking food pantries and more.
Drawing off the success of Mack Gives Back Days, the Office of Mission and Ministry organize a variety of programs throughout the year to help our neighbors in need.
Contact Us
Rileigh Armstrong
Campus Minister for Service and Social Justice
The Grace J. Palmisano Center for Campus Ministry
[email protected]
Mack Gives Back Programs
Back to School Drive (July-August)
Donate a variety of school supplies to underserved children. To donate, you may either:
- Submit a monetary donation online
- Purchase items from our Amazon Wishlist
- Drop off supplies at the Merrimack campus at Monica’s Kitchen, Austin Hall or McQuade Library.
Thanksgiving Basket Drive (October-November)
Help us collect culturally appropriate food items to bring a dignifying Thanksgiving basket to over a hundred families in need in the city of Lawrence and surrounding areas. To donate you may either:
- Submit a monetary donation online
- Drop off non-perishable items on the first floor of the Sakowich Campus Center.
Holiday Toy Drive (November-December)
Make a donation to the annual Hands to Help Holiday Toy Drive to help kids in need during the holiday season. To donate you can::
- Submit a monetary donation online
- Purchase items off our Amazon Wishlist (list to be updated in fall 2024).
- Drop off gifts on campus at the Sakowich Campus Center, Austin Hall or McQuade Library.
Past Mack Gives Back Events
- 800+ students, faculty and staff participated in Mack Gives Back, Nov. 10 and 11, 2024.
- Participants prepared, packaged and delivered 150,000 meals to 10 partner organizations.
Read News: Mack Gives Back Days Preps 150,000 Non-Perishable Meals
- 700+ students, faculty and staff participated in Mack Gives Back, Nov. 10 and 11, 2023.
- Participants prepared, packaged and delivered 145,000 meals to 17 partner organizations.
- Students, faculty and staff participated in Mack Gives Back, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022.
- This year’s Mack Gives Back Day community service event prepared 90,000 non-perishable meals for 10 local nonprofit organizations.
Read News: Merrimack College Honors Those Who Serve by Serving Others
Merrimack students, faculty and staff packed more than 180,000 meals during six separate events this fall and spring.
Instead of the event’s typical raking, painting and outdoor cleanup activities, Mack Gives Back transitioned to providing meals to nearby food pantries and soup kitchens. We partnered with the Outreach Program, a meal packaging nonprofit that delivered food directly to Merrimack’s campus. Mack Gives Back participants then packaged the meals that were picked up and delivered to those in need.
- 1,000+ Mack Gives Back volunteers
- Six events in fall 2020 and spring 2021
- Hourlong shifts of 20 people or less
- 96,000 meals went to the Merrimack Valley Food Bank this fall
- 90,000 meals went to the Lazarus House in the spring
Mack Gives Back may have looked different in 2020, but its impact was just as big as past years.
Event Summary
- Dates: Saturday, September 19, Saturday, October 17 and Saturday, November 14
- Participants: 580+ students, faculty and alumni
- Hours Packing Food: 37+ hours
- Number of Meals Packed: 72,000
Instead of having everyone volunteering at the same time on the same day, our 2018 event had students, faculty, staff and alumni volunteering throughout a nine-day period: Thursday, Nov. 1 through Friday, Nov. 9, 2018.
The theme of our 2018 event was “Honoring Those Who Have Served by Serving Others.” This ties in with Merrimack’s founding mission to provide educational opportunities for local soldiers returning home from World War II and the Augustinian tradition of service.
