Community Service around the Globe
Each semester ISA sites around the world organize a community service day for students. This serves as a time for students to give back to the community where they live and develop a closer connection with locals. Here’s a few of the great activities that students were involved in this fall 2013 semester in ISA sites near and far.
Brussels, Belgium
ISA partnered with an organization called Serve the City to visit with Afghan refugees who are currently taking temporary shelter at a local church. ISA students and staff provided them with hot drinks and food as well as clothes and other needed supplies. Since then, many students have returned to the church to work further with the refugees.
Prague, Czech Republic
ISA students and staff participated in a charity concert held at the St. Cyril & Methodius Church in Prague. ISA students and staff performed music or read poetry in a beautiful and historic setting, and many other students came to support their peers. The event benefited the ForDreams foundation, which works to fulfill dreams for handicapped or socially excluded people.
Florence, Italy
ISA partnered with the Association Angeli del Bello in their Cleaning Duomo Square project. Many students pitched in to help clean up this beautiful city.
Rome, Italy
Students collected non-perishable food items for the Association Roma Altruista (Figlie di Maria Onlus) and served meals at a local soup kitchen at the Stazione Ostiense.
Cape Town, South Africa
On World AIDS day, ISA students and staff partnered with Outspoken Youth Initiative (OYI) to assist at an orphanage for children combating AIDS. They contributed financial donations to the orphanage and spent time visiting with the children living there.
Seoul, South Korea
ISA Seoul students spent a day visiting an animal shelter to play, walk and hang out with the dogs in the shelter.
Bilbao, Spain
The ISA Bilbao students took part in Community Service Day by volunteering at the local Red Cross and by collecting food for the local food bank.
Granada, Spain
ISA coordinated with the Ministry of the Environment to organize a clean up day in Los Cahorros, a nature area located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains just outside of Granada. Students spent the day picking up trash and cleaning along the hiking trails in the area.
Málaga, Spain
ISA students and staff contributed to a project whose aim is to clean up and protect the natural areas surrounding the Guadalhorce River in the region. Students and staff spent the day planting trees along the river and the canals to revive the natural area.
Salamanca, Spain
The ISA Salamanca students gave back to the community by donating blood at a local blood drive. Many students and staff contributed, and many students continued to donate blood throughout the semester.
Santander, Spain
Students visited the nearby Alday Marsh where they first learned more about the area and took a tour of the marsh, guided by the staff members who care of the marshes. The students also went bird watching from observatories and then helped to remove invasive species of flora from the marsh.
Sevilla, Spain
In Sevilla, students donated non-perishable food items to nuns that run the local soup kitchen. Their Operación Kilo Campaign collected 75 items!
Valencia, Spain
Students in Valencia assisted with a charity concert for the Asociación La Casa Grande to raise funds to support their projects. Two of the students took pictures and videotaped the event, and a group of ISA students and staff attended the event to support the cause. Students also gathered 54 non-perishable food items for La Casa de Acogida Dorothy Day, a temporary residence for immigrant women with children. A couple students went to deliver the food items and were able to meet some of the residents currently residing there.
