Service & Immersions

Johnnies – interested in doing a little service around campus? Put the Benedictine value ora et labora (prayer and work) into action this year! SJUfaith and Saint John’s Abbey are partnering to host the Prayer & Work Service Series. On select Saturday afternoons from 11:30 am – 3:30pm., you will work alongside monks doing projects that beautify and enliven campus, and the lifestyle of Saint John’s Abbey.  Projects include working outdoors in the Arboretum, gardening, cleaning the woodshop.  Mass begins at 11:30am with the monastic community. Lunch is provided!

Spring 2024 Prayer and Work Dates are happening now!

Grab your buddies and register today!

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @SJUfaith!

For more information, contact SJU Campus Ministry or 320-363-2790.

El Paso, Texas

Partnering with The Encuentro Project and rooted in the tradition of Faith that does Justice, this program offers participants a faith-based, multi-faceted immersion program in the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez border region to experience a deeper understanding of the complex migration reality and of the El Paso/Juarez community. The Encuentro Project seeks to transform the hearts and minds of participants and open new perspectives about forced migration and asylum seeking by vulnerable marginalized people. By providing education, service, activities, reflection, prayer and community.

• Dates: March 14th-March 20th 2026
• Deposit Cost: $450

Brother David Darst Center Chicago

The Brother David Darst Center is a social justice education center located on the south side of Chicago. Founded in 2002 as a ministry of the De LaSalle Christian Brothers and guided by Catholic Social Teachings the center strives to help people “See more clearly the faces of those pushed to the margins of our society”. Through partnering with local agencies students will get to know people directly impacted by injustice and through relationship building, challenge stereotypes and break down barriers perpetuating inequity and indifference. This Immersion Retreat will focus on how systems of homelessness, food insecurity, incarceration, education, and immigration combine to perpetuate injustice. 

• March 15th-March 20th 2026
• Deposit Cost: $150

Bennies and Johnnies Apply Here: https://forms.csbsju.edu/JVX2TBVGD9

Follow @SJUfaith on Instagram to not miss out on key information!

Dates: TBA

Saint John’s University Campus Ministry invites Johnnie students to be part of a meaningful and exciting service opportunity to our Bahamian community in Nassau, Bahamas! Participants of this trip will have the opportunity to engage and assist a variety of local organizations, including Catholic organizations, school communities, small businesses, and park services. 

The focus of this Service Immersion trips is twofold for students. The focus of this trip is:

1.  To offer an opportunity for St. John’s students to be situated in direct contact with local and international community through service.

2. To engage principles of the Catholic Social Teaching and Benedictine Values to deepen their understanding of a spirituality of social justice. 

Application Opening Soon

Some of the fees of this program are funded by a generous donor who is committed to providing meaningful opportunities for undergraduate students at CSB+SJU to engage in service and justice programming. Participants will still be asked to provide additional funding upon acceptance of this Service Immersion trip. Scholarship opportunities are available for students upon request.

“If I had clean clothes people would treat me like a human being.” – T-Bone (Eric), Laundry Love Co-Founder

Laundry Love is an organization that allows people that can’t afford to do their laundry to do their laundry. This is something that many of us take for granted, but it’s something that reinforces the dignity people have and deserve.

Laundry love will happen throughout the academic year at the St. Joe Laundromat. Student volunteers are present to folks who are there to do their laundry, the deeper aim is to provide a kind and compassionate presence for people as we offer them an opportunity to take care of a very practical,  but very needed part of their lives.

Here are instructions for what one does volunteering with Laundry Love:

1. Thanks for your willingness to volunteer with Laundry Love!  
   
2. Even though the laundry is what we are providing, a deeper aim is to provide a kind and compassionate presence for people as we offer them an opportunity to take care of a very practical,  but very needed part of their lives.  Some people will be more open to visiting than others. Some will have children with them and of course they can always use some diversion! And some will be quite chatty. Use your best judgment in terms of being on your  phone and computer while tending to the people who come. 
   
3. Arrive at the laundromat about 4:50 pm to get things set up. Sometimes people may only have a short window of time to be away from home and their kids or perhaps they’re fitting it in between work schedules.
   
4.  A bin will be provided by SJUfaith.   You’ll find several dollars worth of quarters to start. There are laundry dryer sheets in a box and then there are laundry SOAP sheets that look like dryer sheets! They are an eco-friendly laundry detergent that we have been using that work well.
   
5. Please wear a name tag with your first name on it and “Laundry Love Host”.  SJUfaith will provide these for volunteers.  There’s a fine line between asking everyone if they want free laundry as some people might take it as an insult.  There will be people who arrive who you can just kind of tell are looking for it. And then at times I have,  made an announcement just sharing that if anybody is in need of some laundry help it’s available.
   
6. Single folks get 2 loads and drying. Families get 4 loads and drying. 
   
7.  Please use the notebook in the bin to keep track of how many people show up and how many loads you do.  
   
8.  Bring bin back to St. John’s.  Let SJUfaith know how much money is left after your time.
   
9. Volunteering wraps up at 8:00 pm.  Thanks for your time!

To volunteer or if you have any questions, please get in touch with our office

Email: [email protected] 

Tel:  320-363-2790

“… I was in prison and you visited me” (Matthew 25:36b) 

Prison Ministry is an SJUfaith volunteer outreach program.  Prison ministry, is interested in respecting the dignity of all life, including folks who are incarcerated.  Prison Ministers visit the residents of the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud on Monday evenings during the academic year.  Join a team of committed volunteers to help with hospitality, music for mass, and a community committed to loving service to residents of the St. Cloud prison. 

COMMITMENT

• You must complete the Prison Ministry Training. This is hosted on the SJU campus on an as needed basis.
• GO: Visit once a month (approximately four times a semester)
• REFLECT: attend 2 reflections per semester (hosted by SJUfaith)
• ACT: Pray Regularly for the inmates with whom you come in contact. Pray for their families. Pray for systemic and racial justice. Pray for an end to the death penalty.

If you have any questions or would like to join, please contact SJUfaith

Email: [email protected]

Tel:  320-363-2790

Fredi Ponce Parra
Thomas Hobday
Wesley Kirchner
Evan Mattson

2023 Recipients

Ben Epper
Ethan Huber
Durran Thompson

2022 Recipients

Joseph Penny
Isaac Kubalak
Emmett Adam

2021 Recipients

Logan Edwards
Tyler Koll
Kriston Clarke

2020 Recipients

Quinlen Marshall
Alexander Modeas
Andrew Smith

2019 Recipients

Will Gillach
Michael Kelly
Muqkadeen Poole
Simean Farquharson

2018 Recipients

Ryan Graham
Austin Hingtgen
Nathan Williams
Matthew Burgstahler

2017 Recipients
Owyn Ferguson
Gary Harala
Donovan Inniss
Cody Kohut

2016 Recipients
Peter Johnson
Abdirizak Jama
Ramond Mitchell
Frantz Soiro

2015 Recipients
Lukas Steffensmeier
Matthew Fink
Jake Barrientos
Austin Barkley

2014 Recipients
Kevin Curwick
Jake Collins
Jesse Wild
Brian Vander Heiden

2013 Recipients
Edwin Torres
Justin Markon
Connor Klausing
Stephen Gross

2012 Recipients
Chris Heitzig
Andy Hovel
Carlos Dabu
Will Newkirk