Service Leadership

WANT TO GET INVOLVED with service at Warner Pacific? There is a spot for everyone, and everyone is needed. Depending on your interests and skills, you can serve in a variety of areas, such as working directly with Portland Public School students, taking part in activities with seniors at a local resident home, or serve cocoa to the homeless in downtown Portland with Hot Chocolate Outreach. Below, you can find out more about who is leading Service Leadership Initiatives at WP and discover ways to go one-step-further with your service experience.

Now, more than ever, is the time to get up, get out, and get involved in your local neighborhood. It’s time to live out the college’s mission of being “In the city, for the City.” Continue to check back here for opportunities to get plugged into the community and other service agencies that might interest you.

Service Portal

HOW DO I GET STARTED?

Start by asking yourself: “What kind of service-experience am I looking for?” It’s always helpful to know why you are getting involved, for what purpose you will be serving, and understand what inspires you to serve. Read the service-discovery below to navigate your next experience.

Service-Discovery FAQs:

I am looking for a place to fulfill my service-hours for a course Service-Learning requirement.

• Read your course syllabus. There may be a list of service-options for you to choose from.

• If your service-group is looking for a site placement check the Civic Engagement Calendar, or stop by the Office for Service Learning & Civic Engagement (Smith 216) to browse though up-coming service events and a list of community partners.

• Join a Service-Initiative from the Service-Leadership listing below.

I need to fulfill my Faith & Service Commitments.

• There are on-going service projects that your fellow students organize and lead throughout the school year.

• Pay attention to the Service-Opportunities emails and postings outside the Office for Service Learning and Civic Engagement.

• Find a Service-Initiative that inspires you to learn and take action in the initiative-chart below.

I want be a committed volunteer at one agency/organization that matches my interests.

• Visit the link in the Service Portal on Community Partners for a complete list of agencies in the area that is a WP serves with regularly.

• If you need tips on how to contact an agency that matches your interests, or would like to find other service options, visit the Service-Learning Coordinator in Smith 216.

How can I take my Service-Experience one-step-farther?

• You can be an active service-leader OR become a regular participant with a WP Service Initiative.

• Identify what service-initiative listed below matches your personal, academic and career, or spiritual interests.

• Email or talk to the person listed as the contact for a specific initiative.

• If you have ideas on how WP can be more strategic with the Service-Leadership program, or if you have questions, talk with the Student Service-Leaders (Service Events Coordinator & Faith and Justice Awareness Coordinator).

Students are welcome to visit our office and talk with staff about service opportunities, specific sites, and any of the service programs here at Warner Pacific. Just make an appointment with the Service Learning Coordinator, or drop by between the hours of 8am and 4pm, Monday through Friday. We’re located in Smith Hall 216.

SERVICE PROGRAMS AT WPC

The Service-Leadership program consists of a core group of students involved in discovering, creating, and leading service opportunities for all students at WP to participate. The Service-Corps challenges fellow students in learning how to seek out under-resourced populations and identify underlying issues with purpose to initiate change.

The Primary Service Leaders are the Service-Events Coordinator and the Faith & Justice Awareness Coordinator. Under the supervision of the Service-Leaders will be the following Service-Initiatives. Each Initiative forms a Service-Corps of individuals selected to maintain close community partnerships through facilitating the below Service Initiatives. Each Service-Leadership member is also an AmeriCorps Students in Service member: The Students in Service program encourages and supports college and university students to enroll as part-time AmeriCorps members who provide valuable service in their communities. Students serve at least 300 hours over the course of a year, and upon completion of their term of service, earn an education award of roughly $1300.

Alternative Spring Break Trips: WPC currently offers two alternative spring break trips. These are immersion trips in the cities of San Francisco and Portland. [Note: Both trips are part of a class, and students receive one academic credit for the course. Contact Jess Bielman for more details.]

San Francisco—The San Francisco ASB trip exposes students and staff to educational opportunities in the context of a new urban environment and aims to change perspectives and expand paradigms through service and learning. Students and staff travel to City Crossroads, an inner-city youth center and church in the South of Market District, where participants stay in dorms. Days are spent volunteering at local social service agencies and the evenings are spent with children at the youth center.

Portland Plunge—Students and staff immerse into the urban, street life of Portland. Participants experience a different side of the city, learn about issues of homelessness and poverty first-hand, and interact with organizations that are combating those issues. Days are spent talking with the homeless and working poor, as well as volunteering at social agencies.

Club Initiatives: Service-Leadership is partnering with other leadership programs such as United Image and Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), to offer focused service events where students involved will be gaining experience specific to their interests and will enhance their Club program.

Saturday Serve: College students unite with community members and work side-by-side on a project that benefits the community. Saturday Serve occurs every month during the academic year (except for September, December and January) and offers a great opportunity for students to interact with one another and local neighbors.

Hot Chocolate Outreach: Students travel downtown to serve hot chocolate to the homeless. The outreach offers an opportunity for students to gain perspective about the urban environment and provides a personal experience to the concept of poverty.

Sandwich Outreach: As weather changes in Portland so do the needs of those living on the street. Sandwich Outreach replaces the popular Hot Chocolate Outreach in the spring term. We will make PB&J sandwiches, bring water bottles, and other snacks creating a “Hope 2 Others” lunch bag also known as H2O bags.

Faith and Justice Awareness Campaigns: Alongside the Saturday Service Projects the Awareness Campaigns will work to address issues relevant to the themes of Social Justice and Faith. Twice a year, the Service-Learning Office hosts a Faith and Justice Forum. It is an event designed to educate students and the community on relevant social issues—at the local, national and global levels.

Retention Project: College students mentoring High School students to success. The project builds partnerships with local high schools to increase graduation, retention, and post-secondary enrollment rates of at-risk students through mentoring. Warner Pacific Students and members of the community work one-on-one with students from NE Portland’s Madison & SE Portland’s Franklin High Schools to encourage academic success and provide college access resources for at-risk and first-generation students.

Common Day of Service: The Common Day of Service is a college-wide event, in which the entire campus shuts down for the day and students, staff, and faculty work together on a variety of service projects in southeast Portland. Traditionally this is the grand kick-off service event of the academic year.

Martin Luther King Day of Service: Students, staff, and faculty from several colleges use their day off to serve the city of Portland together through various service projects.

To learn more contact students Shayla Senft, Service-Events Coordinator ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Sarah Whitman, Faith & Justice Coordinator ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).