About Urban Immersion Service Retreats

Urban Immersion Service Retreats combine an overview of poverty and its causes with hands-on help for those in need. Ultimately, the retreat participants are encouraged to apply their service learning experiences to address poverty issues in their own communities.

The Retreat Experience

Our retreat features an interactive exercise about the survival choices homeless and working-poor families must make each month. Pay the heating bill or feed the kids? Forgo health insurance to pay the rent and pray no one gets sick?

Participants also learn what roles self-worth, chemical dependency, racism, the economy and domestic violence play in poverty and what is being done to break the cycle. They are then challenged to reflect on what we, as people of faith, can do.

Then they volunteer in Twin Cities homeless shelters, domestic violence centers, food shelves and affordable housing projects.

Finally, our retreat encourages volunteers to apply what they have learned and set tangible goals to affect poverty in their communities.

“From the creative planning, to the guidance, to the challenging questions you offered, to the extra time you spent making sure our experience was full of learning opportunities, you offered us the perfect combination of direction and flexibility with a side of warm hospitality.”

Excerpt from a thank you note from Concordia College