Students Participate in Annual Love Palos Service Event

Approximately 75 students participated in community service projects as part of the College’s annual Love Palos event on April 30.  

Love Palos takes place each year during the final weeks of the academic year. Students and Trinity staff dedicate one Saturday morning to service projects in the Palos Heights community and on campus. The event is sponsored by the College’s Office of Community Partnerships and Service Learning.

“The goal of Love Palos is to give students an opportunity to give back to their community through service,” said Office of Community Partnerships and Service Learning student worker Paola Dolores ’12 of Villa Park, Illinois. “Through this day of service, we hope students are led to continue volunteering and participating in other projects.

The service projects vary each year, ranging from picking up trash around neighborhoods to spreading mulch in recreation areas. This year, students were able to choose between working with the Navajo Hills Homeowners Association, picking up trash in Navajo Creek, which runs along the east-side of campus, working at the Route 83 athletics fields, or helping with projects at the Lake Katherine Nature Center and Botanic Gardens.

“The value of participating in Love Palos is that students have an appreciation for the town we share and live in,” said Dolores. “Students also receive the opportunity to demonstrate Christ-like service to our neighbors.”

“Love Palos is really fun because it allows us to do work with other people,” said English education student Andrew Blok ’13 of Lynden, Washington. “It’s a nice change for students, since so much of the work we do daily is individual.”

“My favorite part of Love Palos is the fellowship that happens while we serve,” said business major David Schurman ’12 of Demotte, Indiana. “Love Palos is a great way for us to spend time bonding and working alongside the people we already know and getting to know the people we don’t.”