Outside Ministries

University Terrace Elementary:

Dozens of Wesley Foundation students volunteer each week at University Terrace Elementary School, which is right down Highland Road from the LSU campus.  Students serve as Kids Hope mentors, teacher assistants, teacher encouragers, prayer partners, or music & art helpers.  480 students from 40 different countries speaking 31 different languages make University Terrace an extremely unique environment! 

Community Garden:

The LSU Horticulture Club and Wesley Foundation garden group teamed up last year to create a community garden here at the Wesley Foundation.  Plants are grown organically and the garden helps to bring the neighborhood together! 

Retreats:

The Wesley Foundation takes one weekend retreat each semester.  We focus on strengthening our spirituality and engaging in service work.  This fall we will be traveling to Ruston, LA to work at the Methodist Children’s Home.  Past retreats have led us to Slidell and New Orleans, LA to gut homes following Hurricane Katrina, to Abbeville, LA to roof homes damaged by Hurricane Lilly, and to New Orleans to paint and beautify a local elementary school. 

Mission Trip:

Wesley Foundation students participate in a week long Alternative Spring Break Mission Trip every spring semester.  Almost the entire trip is planned and organized by any and all students who wish to be involved in the process.  Past mission trips have led us to Boston to serve in a HIV/AIDS living center, to Chicago to minister to the homeless, to San Diego to work for wildfire relief, and to Arizona to repair homes on a Navajo Indian Reservation.  The trip is funded by parking cars on football game days, window washing, and our generous supporters. 

Service Saturdays:

In addition to service retreats and mission trips, students participate in one day service projects throughout the semester.  Painting Baton Rouge homes on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, gutting homes in Chalmette and New Orleans, University Terrace Elementary School cleanup days, and neighborhood trash pickups are all projects that Wesley Foundation students have been a part of. 

Forums and Dialogues:

The Wesley Foundation strives to build community around the neighborhood and around the LSU campus.  Last semester the Wesley Foundation hosted a night of dialogue with the LSU Student Equality Commission, and we continue to plan open forums with the community.