It was September of 2006, and now-University President Rev. Father Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A., Ph.D. was set to be inaugurated as the first new University president in 18 years. Villanova faculty and students celebrated him with formal receptions at a local art museum, a student Gala and various activities that would welcome Father Peter into the Villanova community. But he wanted more.
“I [wanted] to do something that draws the community together,” he said. “[The inauguration] was right around the time of St. Thomas of Villanova’s feast day, so I thought we should do something to remember St. Thomas of Villanova and his dedication to service.”
From there, the inaugural St. Thomas of Villanova Day of Service was born.
Day of Service began as a small entity. There were about 1,000 participants and just 34 different sites. Since then, faculty and students alike have come together to broaden the scope and reach hundreds of more communities throughout the Villanova and greater Philadelphia area.
“It is a wonderful way to start off the year, particularly for new members of the community that have not been fully indoctrinated,” Father Peter said. “I think it really helps to center that service is an important part of the University. It’s an important part of our mission.”
This year, on the 20th anniversary of the Day of Service, 5,000 participants across 230 registered groups will be assigned to 125 site partnerships established by the Day of Service committee.
But Father Peter never anticipated this much growth.
“It’s really special,” he said. “And, it’s humbling, too… [Day of Service] was supposed to be a one time deal. Nobody anticipated that we would continue doing this. I mean, Villanova has always done a lot of service across the school year…but nobody expected how big it would grow.”
But it’s not just the establishment of new partnerships that has changed over the past 20 years. It’s student involvement.
The first Day of Service was run entirely by the University, with all logistical and site partnership decisions coming from the President’s office. However, with service being at the center of Villanova’s Augustinian values, Assistant Vice President of Presidential Events and University Initiatives Chrissy Quisenberry saw an opportunity for students to become more involved.
“Quite frankly, I’m student-centered,” Quisenberry said. “The work I do here is to make Villanova better for the students…so from the very beginning, we wanted the students to be a major part of the [Day of Service] planning.”
The other benefit to getting students involved is what Quisenberry referred to as a “buy in.”
“If it’s planned by them, then they’re getting their friends to participate,” she said. “And when you participate in something, you learn from it. I hope that the students take that with them… being able to plan something so big and see it all come together.”
The committee, which is now composed of 40 students, as well as 11 others who are on the director’s board, comes together with University staff and faculty members to work towards the logistical aspects of the Day of Service.
“Normally, I would have to be up here making sure I understood what the sites were and what their needs were,” Director of University Events and Initiatives, Nick Tumolo, said. “But now, students have taken on that role of knowing their site. They know who all of these partners are, they’re very intentional about the work that’s being done and making sure that we’re fulfilling the needs of the site through our volunteers.”
Beyond knowing the ins and outs of every site, student committee members have also put alumni outreach at the forefront of Day of Service. By doing so, they help Villanovans across the country to honor and continue the work they did in their undergraduate years.
Villanova has 21 alumni networks across 14 states, all of which partake in community service in some capacity.
“Twenty years later, there’s many [alumni] that actually participated in the real event because they were students here when it happened,” Father Peter said. “And now it’s turned into a family thing…they bring their kids [to sites near them], they’ll send pictures of them with their Villanova shirts on in a soup kitchen someplace, or their Vs up in downtown Toledo.”
While alumni networks afford Villanovans the opportunity to serve their communities across the country, Day of Service committee members are using the 20th anniversary as an opportunity to bring alumni back to where it all started: Villanova.
“We’ve created a whole weekend that these former student leaders can be a part of to celebrate the 20 years and what they’ve created over [those] 20 years,” Quisenberry said.
With alumni returning and this being the largest Day of Service yet, the students and faculty are placing even more of an emphasis this year on the concept of intentionality. They are broadcasting why they serve and what it means.
“We’re all there because we are Villanovans, and because this is something that’s important to us as Villanovans,” Tumolo said.
But more than anything, Day of Service isn’t intended to be just one day. The hope is that Villanovan’s are learning about the sites they serve, the areas they are volunteering in and, most importantly, taking something away from those lessons they have learned.
“You should [be going to sites saying] I want to learn about you,” Father Peter said. “I want to learn about what your situation is. ‘How can I enter into your world and see the world through a very different set of eyes? How can I help you accomplish something that you want to accomplish? It’s not about what I’m going to give you, but what I’m going to get by getting to know you.’”
