Benedictine College students aid Atchison nonprofits during service week

Benedictine College students spent Service Week inside Atchison’s day-to-day support system, visiting residents at Medicalodges Atchison, cleaning and tagging items at the Pregnancy Resource Center of Atchison, scrubbing the Boys & Girls Club of Atchison and sorting donations at Sacred Heart Thrift Store. The week ended with 17 students traveling to the Salvation Army in St. Joseph, Missouri, to set up and serve sloppy joes for people experiencing homelessness or poverty.

The schedule began Sunday, April 12, at Medicalodges Atchison, where students spent time with elderly residents at the skilled nursing and rehabilitation community that serves short-term and long-term care needs in Atchison and surrounding communities. That mattered because it put students in direct contact with older residents who can benefit from conversation and companionship, not just a passing visit.

Monday’s stop at the Pregnancy Resource Center of Atchison focused on practical labor, with volunteers tagging and cleaning items. Wednesday, April 15, brought a campuswide Festival of Light and a Eucharistic procession from St. Benedict’s Abbey to the Murphy Recreation Center, tying the week’s volunteer work to Benedictine’s sacramental life and public witness on campus. Later that day, students cleaned the Boys & Girls Club of Atchison, which gives grade school children a safe and supportive place to spend time after school and during the day.

Thursday shifted from physical work to personal outreach. Students wrote intentional letters in the upper level of the St. John Paul II Student Center, sending encouragement to people far away. Lina Dumas, a missionary with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, also painted a car with students as part of the Emmaus group’s outreach, another sign that the week was part of a larger rhythm of service rather than a one-off event.

Friday, April 17, students worked at Sacred Heart Thrift Store, cleaning and sorting merchandise so the local charitable resource could stay organized for the community it serves. On Saturday, April 18, 17 students headed to the Salvation Army in St. Joseph to help with meal service for people in need.

Therese Allard, the Service Team Coordinator, said the point of Service Week is to show Christ’s love through action. Benedictine says its missions and service programs are meant to build up Atchison locally while sending students out as Catholic missionary-disciples, and the week’s stops showed that mission in concrete terms: elder care, family support, child services, thrift-store labor and regional outreach that filled real gaps for area nonprofits.