For six years, the Alliance Mentoring Project has provided
opportunities for students to work with schoolchildren at St. John
the Baptist Parish in the Bedford-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn,
the original site of St. John’s University. Elementary school
students are matched with one of over 200 St. John’s volunteers.
The mentors travel to St. John the Baptist elementary school eight
times each week to assist the grade school students with finishing
homework and reviewing class assignments. They also counsel the
children on issues such as drugs, violence and conflict
mediation.
The Annual Walk for the Homeless has been in existence for more
than 20 years and has for many people become a Good Friday
tradition. The 2004 Walk raised over $23,000 to benefit programs
for the homeless in New York City and members of the St. John’s
community who find themselves in emergency situations.
Service opportunities for our student athletic teams were
prolific. Ninety percent of our student athletes participated. The
Red Storm helped the needy in the Bread and Life Soup Kitchen, St.
John’s Home for Boys, St. John the Baptist School and the St.
Nicholas of Tolentine shelter.
“Fridays in the Kitchen,” where volunteers serve meals at St.
John’s Bread and Life Soup Kitchen, Brooklyn, has added yet another
service opportunity. On Tuesdays, students and staff get together
in the Quad Lounge to make as many as 200 sandwiches. These
sandwiches are then distributed and served with fruit and drink
from Mobile Soup Kitchens set up around New York City to feed the
homeless.
Over 350 students, faculty, administrators and alumni
participated in the Second Annual Service Day – nearly twice the
number of last year’s volunteers. The many services provided
included painting playgrounds in poor neighborhoods, serving meals
to the hungry, visiting the incarcerated and entertaining the
hospitalized.
The Elder Law Clinic celebrated its 10th Anniversary. Thirty-one
students participated, representing 48 clients in state and federal
courts and in administrative forums. Public education presentations
were held at 30 senior citizen centers in Queens.
The School of Law opened the doors of an Immigration Rights
Clinic. Catholic Charities Community Services, Archdiocese of New
York, co-sponsored this full-year (two-semester), eight-credit
clinical program. Second and third-year law students represented
some of New York’s most vulnerable newcomers. Real-life courtroom
experience was gained in the Immigration Courts at the Queens U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Facility tribunal at
JFK Airport.
More than 270 Red Storm student-athletes made a difference in
the community through service. Team services included: serving
meals to the homeless at St. John Bread and Life Soup Kitchen and
gathering toys and groceries for those in need during the holidays
through the Sponsor-a-Family Program.