Those at Fairfield University are no strangers to service. “It’s baked into who we are, that I don’t have to explain what [it] is, people just get it, and they just jump [in],” says Campus Ministry Associate Director, Katie Byrnes.
This passion is amplified during February when CampMin focuses on “…bringing the love from [Fairfield] to the outside.”
Despite February being the shortest month, there is no shortage of service opportunities for students to participate in, such as making Valentine’s Day cards for homebound seniors or providing food pantry donations.
Many of the service projects during this month focus on the elderly and the unhoused. The first of these projects is Cupid’s Crew, where thousands of valentines are made for those living in assisted living or seniors who are homebound. The Class of 2026 is invited to participate in this event for their Senior Service Project, which will involve making valentines in McGrath Commons from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 9.
Senior student Mia Swenson is organizing the event, “We want to make sure senior citizens are still seen during Valentine’s Day, [and so we put out supplies] for the senior students to come and write a letter or make a valentine. I always like to include funny jokes to try and bring a smile to the senior citizens’ faces when they get these!” Swenson exclaimed.
She also shared that there isn’t a designated sign-up form or an attendance cap, but instead, the event is open to any senior who wants to participate. “Hopefully, the senior citizens will be able to feel that love and know that someone’s out there thinking of them, even if it’s not their families visiting, or if they’ve lost a spouse or a partner. They just know someone’s thinking of them on this holiday.”
Reportedly, the efforts of Cupid’s Crew are greatly appreciated. Swenson mentioned that the nursing home directors have told volunteers that the recipients of the cards are always “really, really touched” and that they “really mean something to them.”
“It’s awesome to put these things together and say, ‘I hope it does well,’ and it’s another thing to be able to hear that it’s really impacting our community,” she expressed.
Another program, Glamour Gals, provides makeover services for women and men in assisted living. There is also a technology workshop for seniors that Byrnes notes is very popular, and there are groups of volunteers who shovel seniors out after snowstorms.
When asked to choose her top three service projects for February, Byrnes mentioned the program Fresh Start Furniture Ministry. Located at 140 Edison Ave in Fairfield, this program operates more uniquely than some of the other standard service projects that Fairfield University has to offer. She explained that, “…folks donate furniture for [those] who are currently unhoused and are moving into housing. So they get to go in and shop and say, ‘I love that table and those chairs,’ and then we deliver them to their new home.”
She went on to describe more of the process, saying that the volunteers took on the role of interior decorator, walking the new homeowners through the space, helping them pick out furniture, and setting up their purchases. “This is a really concrete way that we help make those dreams of home ownership a reality.”
Another program in Byrnes’ top three is the American Red Cross Blood Drive. The drive will take place on Feb. 12, from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the RecPlex. “[This is] quite literally sharing the heart,” Byrnes said, “and donors are a critical need right now. [Having] people spend half an hour giving blood but realistically saving lives, I think, is a really good connection for us when we think about the work that we do. This is sustaining things that are far beyond our own reach.”
The third event she recommended was the Filling in the Blanks Mobile Food Pantry, which was started by Fairfield moms and has been operating since 2021. When they noticed that kids in the after-school program didn’t have snacks, they began making snack bags for them, eventually turning it into a not-for-profit.
Byrnes discussed the mobile portion of the food pantry as well, saying, “Our students can either make bags of snacks on campus, and we’ll deliver them, or they can go to the warehouse and pack weekend bags for kids, so things like Easy Mac, cereal, and oatmeal; things that kids can prepare themselves, so that no kid goes hungry.”
Many of the service opportunities that CampMin promotes are based out of Fairfield. Byrnes claims that she’s particularly interested in the programs that have origins in Fairfield or ones that have connections to alumni. She elaborated, saying, “I’m particularly attracted to ones that do [have an alumni connection] because it’s a great way for us to talk about how being formed as people with and for others carries beyond our years here at Fairfield.”
Members of the alumni board are eager to get involved, and Byrnes specifically mentioned the Post Road non-profit, Woofgang and Co. The founders, Kelly Maffei, Amy Stern, and Kris Burbank, wanted to provide a new purpose for those who have aged out of their state-provided educational programs. Their main goal is to provide solutions that aren’t diagnosis-specific, meeting the individuals where they are. Additionally, U.S. Food Rescue, an app that allows you to sign up to redistribute leftover food from grocery stores or restaurants so that it does not go to waste, was also founded in Fairfield.
Byrnes stated that Campus Ministry has a certain approach to its many service projects. “One really important thing about service here is that we don’t arrive [at] the question. [We don’t act] as if we have all the answers; [when our] Community Partners raise an issue and are finding ways to address it, we work with them to make that happen. So instead of saying, ‘Bridgeport is a food desert, we need to bring food to Bridgeport,’ we find folks who are doing that work in Bridgeport and say, ‘How can we help make that a reality?’”
Additionally, the vast majority of service projects at Fairfield are open to as many people as want to volunteer. The only true exception is Black Rock Food Pantry, which Byrnes says is only about the size of her office.
She says that because of the size of the pantry, they only send five students at a time, but the smaller groupings allow the volunteers to make meaningful connections with the families they’re helping. The other food pantries, like Filling in the Blanks and Prospect House, are open to larger groups of volunteers, and students can borrow vehicles to get to the locations.
She elaborated on the curious fact, saying, “We add them to our insurance policy, and then they can borrow a car or van for free so they can go! There are really no barriers for students.”
Byrnes continuously vouches for the quality and importance of service at Fairfield, citing its ability to foster connections between students. “It’s a great way to meet other folks who are also passionate about service. So they’re good people that are doing it? And every kind of service project has people that you’re going to meet that are great.”
