OUR PROGRAMS

We Have Various Activities!

CampusConnect

CampusConnect provides community activities for students who may or may not be Lutheran, their friends, and guests. With the lead of Pastor Riina, the organization builds a cozy community in Syracuse. You may come and hang out in the Koinonia House where CampusConnect meets each week. Sometimes students cook dinner at the house, which is just a block from the campus. Sometimes we tackle questions over a food court meal in the Goldstein student center. Sometimes we pack a picnic and go on a hike. And once a month, we invite a faculty member or community leader to a full course dinner in exchange for leading a discussion on a contemporary issue.

*previously called SU Lutheran Student Association (SULSA)

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Thursday Group Dinner

Join us weekly at the Thursday Group Dinner at the Koinonia House where was used to be where Pastor Riina lives. The event consists of optional cooking assistance and appreciation of foods.
Students are responsible for grocery purchasing, food preparation, cooking and hosting. Guests are welcome to cook their food for the group. Generally, the dinner group is smaller than 10 but it expends the number fast. Barbeque, baking, salads and food cooked by students from all over the world are popular. The group dinner is free since the housing host takes care of the budget.

Time: Thursday 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Place: 100 Straford Ave, Syracuse, NY 13206

STEP

The STEP Center is LCM’s service arm in the Central New York community. Through the STEP Center, we aim to get students to expand their horizons beyond the University—stepping into another’s world to make a difference. The Center offers both short and long term service opportunities, including those tied to participant’s fields of study. This year we are focusing on two areas: mentoring children and youth, and supporting the refugee community with English language learning. Thanks to Wheat Ridge Foundation for making “Success Saturdays” possible. We are grateful to the Onondaga Literacy Coalition for funding our “Learning to Read: Families Together” English as a new language program. See Literacy and Mentoring tabs for more information.

Interested to be a volunteer? Click Here

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Wednesday Night Community Dinner

Join us weekly at the Appleseed Community Dinner held every Wednesday at Atonement Lutheran Church! The event consists of community dinner, skill-building activities, crafts, and peer-to-peer learning and fresh food give-away.

To date, 40 students have volunteered at the South Side Community Dinner and Youth Church. We have been present each Wednesday night that the university is in session serving meals, building relationships with children, youth and the elderly dinner guests, among them residents from a community for people with disabilities.

Time: Wednesday 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Place: Atonement Lutheran Church
116 W Glen Ave, Syracuse, NY 13205

Learning to Read Families Together

Our program focuses on providing support to the Karen refugee community in Syracuse, New York by providing English as a New Language (ENL) support. Most importantly, our program is designed to build the child and parent bond by encouraging them to learn at home, as well as in the classroom. Parents and their children learn English at the same time with a coordinated curriculum. Thanks to Literacy Champions grant from the Onondaga Literacy Coalition! This program is supported by Dolly Parton’s Imagination Books Initiative.

Time: Wednesday and/or Friday 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Place: The Refugee Resource Center First English Lutheran Church, located at 501 James St. Syracuse, New York

*Transportation will be provided. Academic credit is available

Success Saturdays Program

Success Saturdays is one of our youth and children mentoring programs that help middle and high school refugee students with homework and skills for academic success.

Time: Saturday 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Place: The Refugee Resource Center at First English Lutheran. 501 James St. Syracuse, New York

Join Our Team! CLICK HERE for an introduction from Sammi.

  • Are you good at Math, Science, Computers, Social Studies, English? We need you!
  • Share stories of your educational and vocational journey!
  • Mold the future, gain experience, build relationships and make a difference to yourself and the community
*Thanks to Wheat Ridge Emerging Leader Grant for making this program possible!

Youth Mentoring Music Program

Music Education Majors offer group lessons in guitar, piano, voice and percussion to teens from Syracuse City Schools, followed by singing together in a choir comprised of youth, college mentors and SU student music teachers. The final hour of the session is spent on mentoring conversations built around the themes of the choral pieces, and the day to day issues the teens face. CLICK HERE to see our previous event.

Thanks for funding support from Hendricks Chapel.


Time: Wednesday 1:30 – 4:30 PM
Place: Noble Room at Hendricks Chapel

*Contact Lutheran@syr.edu to volunteer or for more information including transportation

Youth Identity and Health Mentoring

In this peer leadership project, college students train and support a diverse group of high school age youth to be leaders. College students mentor high school students to help them facilitate their learning through dialogue, creative expression, and sharing their knowledge.

Time: Saturday 1:30 – 3:30 PM
Place: Noble Room at Hendricks Chapel
Syracuse, NY 13244

Women’s Sewing Project

Individuals gain cross-cultural communication and sewing skills together. The sewing initiative entrepreneurial project empowers new American women to gain competency in sewing, business planning, and market strategy, partner with NA ICT, Inc. Products have been marketed in the summer of 2019. Half profit proceeds to women who produced them, and another half funds the continuation of the program.

Time: Friday 1:30 – 3:30 PM
Place: Noble Room at Hendricks Chapel
Syracuse, NY 13244