Vincentian Service Day, one of DePaul’s longest-standing traditions, brings students, staff and faculty together to connect with Chicago communities. It will take place on Saturday, May 2, and allows DePaul to partner with local organizations that provide food, housing, social justice, childcare services and other resources to those who need it.

Katie Sullivan, assistant director in the Vincentian Service and Formation Office in the Division of Mission and Ministry, has been organizing the event for nine years. 

“Vincentian Service Day is tied deeply to our Vincentian mission, which is about service and connection and recognizing the human dignity of everyone,” Sullivan said.

DePaul works directly with community partners from an “asset-based lens,” Sullivan said. DePaul visits these organizations, but the staff there guides the groups. 

“We don’t go to a site without a welcome from them,” Sullivan said. “We’re not just going to appear somewhere and try to take over.”

Vincentian Service Day is based on a collaborative model. Sullivan says partners appreciate that participants provide service alongside their members, not for them. 

“It also connects to who we are as a Vincentian institution because we’re going out into Chicago, we are going into our community, and we are building community with people,” Sullivan said.

Salvador Mata, a junior majoring in biology and minoring in community service studies, will participate this year for the second time. Mata said the service day  introduces people to different neighborhoods’ cultures and people. 

“It turns into a melting pot of a community where DePaul shows students what Chicago really is,” Mata said. “It’s not just these segregated neighborhoods where no one crosses lines with each other.”

Sullivan said small nonprofit organizations see the service day as an opportunity to work with a larger group and take on big projects. 

“Vincent de Paul did a lot for his community, and we, as a Vincentian university, get to live out the legacy of our Vincentian ancestors,” Sullivan said. 

Sullivan says Vincentian Service Day inspires many people to continue their journey and connect with the Vincentian mission in other ways. 

“This could be a door into getting involved into other service experiences,” Sullivan said.

Mata said Vincentian Service Day shows participants the impact of service work, and how much DePaul contributes to it.

“When I think of Vincentian values, I just think of community,” Mata said. “That’s really what it is.”

Xavier Perez, an assistant professor and co-founder of the criminology department, helped organize this year’s event. He will work in one of the community gardens with a group from the criminology department. 

“We are answering Vincent de Paul’s call right now to go to communities in need,” Perez said. 

He said those gardens make a great impact on neighborhoods. By helping these local resources, participants from the criminology department can see themselves as agents of change. 

“The academic research suggests that community gardens strengthen these informal social controls and empower communities to be active participants in addressing crime and violence,” Perez said.

Sullivan said gardens also help Chicagoans by providing fresh food in neighborhoods that don’t have access to it. 

“These gardens are providing space and community in their part of the city,” Sullivan said. 

Perez said he felt proud to see students who expressed a desire to contribute to the broader Chicago landscape and said he sees it as an opportunity to build connections beyond DePaul and improve society.

“We’re following our hearts,” Perez said. “We’re following what Vincent de Paul would have wanted us to do.”

Maria Cañete is a junior majoring in health science and this is her second year participating in the service day. She said it is important for people to motivate each other and know that they can offer help without compensation. 

“There’s a lot of importance in small things or things that you don’t recognize,” Cañete said. “Seeing that your community is looking nicer is also important.”

Registration for Vincentian Service Day is open until Monday, April 27, at 11:59 p.m. Those who miss the deadline, are still welcome at the Sullivan Athletic Center on May 2 at 8:30 a.m. They will be put in groups that need more people.  

“Chicago is our home, right? This is where we are at right now,” Cañete said. “If your living room is a little bit messy, it’s probably a good idea to clean up.”

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