This past academic year, I was proud to be part of the My Brother’s Keeper Special Interest House, a program offered through Stonehill’s Office of Residence Life which allows students to live and work together around a common purpose.
Our group consisted of eight seniors with unique personalities. Our majors ranged from accounting and finance to communications and international studies. Despite our differences, we were united around our passion for
service. Our motivation was simple: we wanted to immerse ourselves in the mission of My Brother’s Keeper and give back to the community in our final year at Stonehill.
As a group, we accomplished more together to help My Brother’s Keeper than we ever could as individuals:
- we volunteered more than 700 hours
- we participated in mission-centered reflection nights
- we organized a food drive in the local Easton community
- we worked with Stonehill’s dining service to collect empty cardboard boxes for use on food deliveries
- and we conducted a fundraising dance in our residence hall
While we’re certainly proud of these tangible accomplishments, we are most proud of the fact that each member of our house uniquely embraced the mission of My Brother’s Keeper. We each offered our special gifts and talents to serve families in need and “bring the love and hope of Jesus Christ to those we serve.”
St. Francis said, “It is in giving that we receive.” Our senior year was certainly richer because of our volunteer experiences. Our conversations over dinner were not only about sports and business news, but also about what a privilege it is to serve others and how much more difficult it can be to receive than to give.
Senior year of college has been a whirlwind of activity: rigorous academic work and countless hours of job-searching mixed in with videogames and late-night food runs! My greatest memory, though, is that I was part of an enthusiastic group of young men who made a difference in the lives of our neighbors in need.
One of our roommates, Will Mullin, summed it up best: “Having the chance to volunteer with such a dedicated group of guys has been one of the most enjoyable, rewarding experiences of my Stonehill career. Every delivery we made was unique—each person we served had their own story. I am so thankful to have volunteered at My Brother’s Keeper.”