Giving Hope to Students

"My first semester of college was spent at hope in Maryland taking online classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, I was thrilled to be living on campus surrounded by my fellow university students. At first, it was a culture shock being on campus with so many individuals who did not share my Catholic values. That all changed when I found the Penn/Drexel Newman Center. The Newman Center is the Catholic student center and community on campus. Students from both schools come here to be with like-minded individuals and to grow in our faith. They offer us so many amazing programs, like bible study, speaker series, daily Mass, weekly adoration, and service projects. I am currently the Chair of the University of Pennsylvania's Leadership Team that works with Drexel University on a service outreach project, "Christ in the City." This is a homeless center city. We interact with them and provide food and material assistance to built that relationship and honor their human dignity. When you have young people who go out into the world, they inspire others to follow in their footsteps. Without funding from the Catholic Charities Appeal, we would not be able to come together to celebrate our faith and partake in the activities the Newman Center provides. We are growing with our Catholic faith on campus, and the CCA makes that possible."

– Nigel Newby, University of Pennsylvania, Student