September 16th, a morning full of tired college kids, over caffeinated CFJ volunteers, and service! Saturday was Xavier’s biannual Community Action Day, a day loved by students and alumni alike. You’re probably wondering what Community Action Day is, so let me tell you. Twice a year, once each semester, the Center for Faith and Justice invites the whole Xavier community out to do a few hours of service. You wake up about 7:30/8 and roll out to the Xavier lawn dressed to do any type of volunteering. Once swiped in, you wander around the plethora of tables set up in the yard and sign up for a service location that interests you. This year, my friends and I signed up to serve at the Irish Heritage Center in downtown Cincinnati. They told us that we were going to be doing some painting of moving furniture, so it didn’t sound half bad to us.
Once everyone has meandered around for awhile, around 9, everyone’s favorite human Father B gives us a blessing. He tells us that he’s proud and reminds us what we’re doing and sends us on our way.
Father B speaking to the volunteers
Once we arrived to the Irish heritage center, we were met by a woman named Maureen and her husband that run the place. They told us our main task for the day was going to be painting their basement floor. We spend quite a lot of time down there and sniffed quite a lot of paint fumes.
Eventually though, we had finished and moved on to the next task. We were all sent outside and we were pulling weeds from the parking lot. While we weren’t super thrilled to be doing that work, we were reminded that parking lots are the first exposure people have to the Irish Heritage Center, and we want them to have a good first impression. After we finished weeding, we were done with our two hours of service and sat down and reflected. So, let me give you a little background information I learned about the IHC.
The building used to be an old school that closed in the 60’s. Cincinnati wanted to knock it down and place a Kroger there, so Maureen and her husband purchased the property. When they got their hands on it 8 years ago, it was a total wreck. They are completely volunteer run and funded, and with the help of such amazing people the IHC is what you see today. While help is always needed to keep the progress going, so much has happened to transform the IHC. There is a full theater that has shows that was funded and built by volunteers. There is plenty of rooms to be rented out for parties and functions. (fun fact: The owner of the Red’s recently had his 30th anniversary celebration their). However, by far the coolest part of the IHC is the fully functioning pub that is there. Open on the 1, 2, and 3 thursdays of the month, the pub has live irish music and welcomes anyone of any age to have a good time. The upstair of the IHC also has a full Irish library with rare books that can only be found there. They are also in the processes of turning their Irish memorabilia collection into a museum. Overall, the IHC was a very cool place to have an opportunity to serve with. They care about community, and that’s why they do everything they can to preserve it. If you are on Xavier’s campus in spring of next year, definitely look out for community action day or CAD. You’re not going to want to miss the amazing service opportunities and they usually have free shirts!
HCXU members at Community Action Day