At Notre Dame, community service offers us both invitation and opportunity - an invitation to serve our neighbors and an opportunity to form relationships that are meaningful. Originally inspired by USA Today’s call to service, Notre Dame’s annual Make a Difference Day looks to bring students, along with their parents, into community with our downtown neighbors. This year, more than 80 participants lent a hand at three events – Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, the 11th Annual SUN Halloween Social and a Fair of the Arts.

In the heart of downtown San Jose at Arena Green volunteers participated in Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, which raised more than $350,000 for the American Cancer Society. Inspired by this year’s Women of Impact honoree Rose Simmons ’63, a retired American Cancer Society executive, and honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month, students and their parents cheered on the more than 2,100 participants.

Concurrently, in the South University Neighborhood, volunteers supported the 11th annual SUN Halloween Social, an event designed to provide a safe and supportive community celebration for local families. The event featured food, games, candy and music in addition to an array of crafts including sugar skull painting!

On the Notre Dame Campus, volunteers helped with A Fair of the Arts, an arts and crafts fair in support of the Sisters of Notre Dame and their ministries in Africa and Latin America. Students and their parents greeted guests, helped with food sales in the cafe, and provided support to local professional artists and sisters who were selling handmade arts and crafts. The sale featured a variety of artisan crafts and gifts as well as displays from Kenya, Nicaragua and Peru. Likitha Aradhyula'17, a recent participant in the Nicaragua Justice Immersion (where she met Sr Rebecca Trujillo, SNDdeN) shared about her experience with the SND and Seeds of Learning. As a special treat, the Regent Harmonies and the NDSJ Regent Dance Collective also performed!