Saturday, Sept. 30 will mark the 18th annual St. Thomas of Villanova Day of Service at the University. The annual Day of Service is a very exciting time on campus, when everyone has an opportunity to participate and give back to the community. The annual event is named in honor of St. Thomas of Villanova, who was known for his amazing charity to the poor and marginalized. His legacy is celebrated with this day and one of the key values here at Villanova: caritas, meaning love.
Every year students, faculty, staff and alumni come together in a group of more than 5,000 participants and work together with partnering neighborhood agencies to perform service throughout the community and the greater Philadelphia area. This is a very unique event at Villanova, and the community and student body are proud to be a part of something so special. The Day of Service was started by Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD in 2006 after his inauguration.
“Serving others is central to our Augustinian Catholic mission and each fall, the St. Thomas of Villanova Day of Service is an opportunity for Villanovans across the globe to address the needs of their communities,” Father Peter said.
2021’s Day of Service was very successful with more than 4,000 volunteers for the day serving local organizations and neighboring agencies in need. The Villanova community served at more than 100 different locations and service sites, in addition to many Villanova alumni serving their communities across the country. The goal of this day is to emphasize the Augustinian mission and put ideas into action when it comes to serving the community. The community at Villanova performs around 250,000 hours of service annually showing the dedication of the student body to helping their communities.
This weekend’s Day of Service is going to be a very eventful day, and many students are excited to be a part of it. Students and volunteers can sign up with certain groups for the day, for example signing up with their clubs, sports teams or Greek life groups. This is an opportunity for these groups to go to different locations to perform different tasks to help the community. Students also love this day because they get to spend quality time with their specific clubs and sports team to work together to help the community and enjoy the bonding experience.
This is one of the largest single-day service events in the region and the Day of Service builds upon the service performed throughout the year by the Villanova community. Here at Villanova, there are weekly outreach opportunities and ongoing relationships with social service and charitable organizations in the greater Philadelphia area. All this hard work and connections built and the Day of Service itself would not have been possible without the effort of the Day of Service Committee who worked hard to put this day together for the University.
There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer and register. If you don’t participate in this year’s Day of Service, feel free to register to help for the Day of Service 2024.
