By Tim Marren

Seven Buffalo State students and one Newman Center campus minister have chosen not to spend this spring break in a warm climate, but rather Philadelphia and nearby Germantown, Pennsylvania.

This spring break will be one of service for the volunteers as they spend one week living in a Vincentian home and volunteering at five sites.

Jon Neureuther, Newman Center campus minister, said that the volunteers would experience the four cornerstones of prayer, simplicity, community involvement and service to others.

Prayer: The volunteers will engage in prayer throughout the trip but specifically begin and end each day with prayer and reflection.

Simplicity: When they are not volunteering their time during the day the students will relax and reflect on their experience, minus the luxuries that we become accustomed to like the television and the Internet.

Community involvement/ Service to others: The volunteers will assist those in need at the following sites while building a sense of community with those around them:

• Philadelphia Martin Luther King Jr. Associations for Non-Violence Inc.
• Sacred Heart Manor for semi-independent living and nursing home situations
• St. Catherine’s Infirmary for Vincentian and Oblate priests and brothers
• St. Francis Inn/ Soup Kitchen
• Tutoring students at St. Martin De Porres School

“Part of this is helping people, but that’s the bonus,” Neureuther said. “Whoever goes on the trip goes for the experience to share with what the people are going through and to do something to change the structures that cause these problems.”

Kourtney Kilmartin, a political science senior at Buffalo State, will be going on her second week long trip of service with the Newman Center and expects nothing but service to others.

“Typically, the ones doing the service, at the end, find that they have received more than they have given. It is a life experience everyone should have at least once, if not incorporate into their lives regularly,” Kilmartin said.

The total cost to the student is $15. The Diocese of Buffalo, sponsorships of $25 and fundraisers cover the remaining cost of the trip.