Around Campus

Around Campus Students Lend a Valuable Hand in Boston’s Annual Homeless Census

On a cold night in February, PULSE program instructor David Manzo ’77 led a team of volunteers through the streets and alleys of Boston’s Chinatown and South Cove neighborhoods as part of the city’s annual homeless census. The counting of people in Boston experiencing homelessness, and inviting them to get shelter, is volunteer service Manzo has done for some 15 years, usually with a cadre of Boston College students and alumni by his side.

“I am always impressed by BC students’ willingness to stretch themselves,” said Manzo, who has been teaching in the University’s PULSE program since 1980. “The homeless census has moments that are uncomfortable and eye-opening. The BC students are attentive, responsive, and loving.”

He estimates that in total more than 100 BC students have volunteered with him for the homeless census canvassing.

During the overnight of February 2324, with the temperature below freezing, Manzo and his team encountered eight people experiencing homelessness. He recalled that one year his team engaged with as many as 17.

“The students find it very powerful,” said Manzo, who was aided this year by seniors Elisa Ganzon, Joe McGrane, Haley Grieco-Page, Alexandra Pastrana, Emily Trebour, Vanessa Chatfield; juniors Erin Kiley and Gerald Mastellone; and alumni Clare Ryan and Victoria Pouille.

Mandated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, the homeless census is a count of people living on the streets, in shelters, and in transitional housing programs. It helps Boston shape its policies on addressing homelessness.

Compared to most other large cities in the U.S., Boston has one of the lowest percentages of unsheltered homeless. Manzo credits that to the efforts of city officials in partnership with nonprofit organizations such as Pine Street Inn, Rosie’s Place, and St. Francis House.

For Manzo’s students, the lessons from the personal encounters with those experiencing homelessness stretch well beyond the one night of the census. Manzo weaves the topic of homelessness into his PULSE curriculum.

Jim Greene, Boston’s assistant director for street homelessness initiatives who has been part of the homeless census for more than three decades, annually speaks to the students in Manzo’s Values in Social Services and Health Care class. After the census, Manzo and his students spend time reflecting on the encounters and discussing the systemic causes of homelessness, such as lack of affordable housing and mental health issues.

Manzo says that through the witness of people like Greene, BC students can see how a vocation of public service can become a career. “Some will go into leadership areas where they can be part of the solution to homelessness, but all will have had a first-hand experience of putting the values of BC—‘men and women for others’—into action.”

PULSE instructor David Manzo with BC undergraduate volunteers and alumni who aided a census of homeless individuals in Boston neighborhoods last month.

photo by david manzo

—Kathleen Sullivan

Some BC Spring Break Service Trips Are Set to Resume

After the coronavirus pandemic forced the Boston College Appalachia Volunteers to replace their weeklong nationwide service trips last year with four weekends of service in Eastern Massachusetts, the group—more commonly known as “Appa”—will be returning to their spring break trip model when 250 students travel to 26 different locations around the country next week to work alongside underresourced communities.

“Appa has experienced so much in its 43-year history at Boston College, especially after creatively navigating through pandemic realities,” said Campus Minister Jacob Blicharz, the administrator for Appa. “Our patience, trust, and faith has led our planning process and allowed for us to make a return to our roots this year.”

In addition to the week of service, participants meet biweekly throughout the school year to learn about the structural injustices and social realities that marginalize people and how BC’s Jesuit tradition can guide the response to these problems.

Each service trip has two student leaders who are trained on servant leadership and service-immersion practices. Rebecca Fontana ’22 will be a leader for this year’s trip to Ivanhoe, Va., where students will work with the Ivanhoe Civic League, an organization that facilitates community rebuilding projects in the former coal-mining town.

“As a program and a group of student leaders, we are very cognizant of the fact that the pandemic is still ongoing, and that many of the sites that we serve through Appa Volunteers are vulnerable communities and have more restricted access to health care than we do here at BC,” said Fontana. “Our site coordinator told my co-leader and me over the phone that the community of Ivanhoe was hit hard by COVID. This will likely be a focal point of our trip and a topic of discussion during our group’s reflections—specifically, how the pandemic has impacted rural communities throughout the country like Ivanhoe.”

Blicharz said he has been especially inspired by this year’s student participants, leaders, and community partners.

“I believe this Appa chapter speaks profoundly to what its story is all about—a courage to love, a desire to learn, and a commitment to community—even in the more uncertain of times.”

All travel involving BC programs has to be authorized by the University because of the current restrictions in place. In addition to Appa, the Magis Civil Rights spring break trip to Alabama and Georgia has been approved. Meanwhile, students who enrolled in the Arrupe international immersion program—originally scheduled for January—now have the option to go during Easter break next month or after Commencement in May.

Spring break international service trips, including the Dominican Republic ServiceLearning and Immersion Program and Jamaica Mustard Seed, were canceled for this year as both locations have level-four travel advisories in place.

—Christine Balquist

Seniors Kimberlyn Jones and Darnell Fils were the inaugural winners of the Sr. Thea Bowman Excellence Award, presented at the Black Excellence Gala on February 19 at 300 Hammond Pond Parkway.

photo by frank curran

ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Jack Dunn

SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Patricia Delaney

EDITOR

Sean Smith

CONTRIBUTING STAFF

Christine Balquist Phil Gloudemans Ed Hayward Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Caitlin Cunningham Lee Pellegrini

Chronicle

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The Boston College Chronicle (USPS 009491), the internal newspaper for faculty and staff, is published biweekly from September to May by Boston College, with editorial offices at the Office of University Communications, 3 Lake Street, Brighton, MA 02135 (617)552-3350. Distributed free to faculty and staff offices and other locations on campus. Periodicals postage paid at Boston, MA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to The Boston College Chronicle, Office of University Communications, 3 Lake Street, Brighton, MA 02135.

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