SHU Students Devote Their Spring Break to Serving Others

The Bridgeport community and Carolinas benefit from students’ efforts

Sacred Heart University community members have been known to spend more than 100,000 hours a year volunteering, and spring break 2022 reinforced that reputation as students took part in projects in Bridgeport and the Carolinas.

SHU’s campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity coordinated the volunteers and projects in North and South Carolina, while organizers for CURTIS Week (Community Understanding and Reflection Through Inner-City Service) arranged the activities in Bridgeport.

Fifteen students and two faculty/staff advisors traveled to New Bern, NC, where they helped build a shed at the New Bern Habitat ReStore (the organization’s thrift store). They also replaced rotting floorboards at a critical-repair house and helped with installing doorknobs, painting and trimming in a newly built house that is almost ready for the homeowners.

A second group that comprised 18 students and two staff advisors traveled to Georgetown, SC, to work on two Habitat projects. They helped pack dirt into the foundation of a new build to get it ready for concrete and built frames for the same house, signing them and leaving what will be hidden messages wishing happiness and health to the residents.

The group also painted the exterior of a house as a community outreach project for Habitat for Humanity Georgetown County and helped as needed in Georgetown Habitat’s ReStore.

“I went to New Bern my freshman year, so to be there again for my last trip was just an indescribable experience,” said political science major Colleen Shaffer ’22, vice president of SHU’s Habitat chapter. “New Bern is the kind of place that knows what real community is, and it shows in their efforts with Habitat. All the volunteers and employees we met there were locals who truly care about people. I mean, every night for dinner, someone from the community welcomed our group with a meal and made us feel like we were part of the family, so it just shows what a tight-knit community Habitat is.”

“I love doing service, especially with Habitat for Humanity,” said Colleen Bertolini ‘23, dual nursing and psychology major. “I love their mission and all the volunteers are always very welcoming and encourage us to try new things at each worksite. Over the years I have volunteered with habitat here in Bridgeport; Hanover, VA; Athens, GA; and most recently Georgetown, SC. Every time we enter a new community, we are welcomed with open arms. Habitat for Humanity forms a community of individuals who not only believe in their message, but many have been recipients of the work from habitat.

“I love giving back to the community and being able to use my time and skills to help those in need is one the most rewarding experiences,” Bertolini continued. “Knowing that the little things I have to offer can change the life of someone else is one of the main factors that continues to motivate me to keep giving back to the community through Habitat for Humanity.”

Closer to home, 12 undergraduate and three graduate students had an equally busy and fulfilling time with CURTIS Week activities in Bridgeport. They folded donated women’s business suits for Dress for Success, which provides them to formerly incarcerated women to wear to job interviews. The SHU volunteers also sorted and displayed donated clothing for LifeBridge Community Closet, organized and cleaned classrooms and built a lending library hut at Hall Neighborhood House. They offered math and reading support for students in kindergarten through fifth grade at Wilbur Cross School, packed nonperishable food items for Bridgeport senior citizens with Connecticut Foodshare, prepared and served meals and restocked the food pantry at the Thomas Merton Center and created craft projects with the residents of the Tina Klem Serenity House, a 90-day recovery facility.

“CURTIS Week was very enlightening and enabled me to see and experience the Bridgeport area in a different perspective,” said Lauren Pisano ’25, who double-majors in management and marketing. “Going to a different site each day gave me the opportunity to help children one day and give food to people in need the next. Going to different places of worship in the evenings let me learn about the different cultures and beliefs and was a new, eye-opening experience that I really enjoyed. Overall, participating in CURTIS Week was a great way to spend my spring break, and I will definitely continue to go back to the volunteer sites during the rest of the semester.”

Photos: (top) Student volunteers fill boxes with food at CT Foodshare in Bridgeport as part of CURTIS Week; (center) North Carolina Habitat trip; (bottom) South Carolina Habitat trip