After going on ICO Aliquippa in the fall semester, I knew I wanted to go back in the spring. When preparing for this trip, I kept thinking back to the fall trip and wondering how similar and different it would be.
During the fall trip, we were always busy helping others, focusing on fixing things and meeting people in Aliquippa. We focused on going to the different neighborhoods and housing plans, walking around to hand out food to families and play with little kids. With the kids, we taught them about Jesus, played with them, and did Bible studies with them. A majority of our time was creating relationships and becoming familiar with Aliquippa to then come back in the spring and continue building those relationships.
When we came back in the spring, it felt like we picked up where we left off. We got to see all the people we met in the fall and spend days working and serving with them. Compared to the fall, we focused on being servants and serving others well while building the relationships we created. For a few days, we got to talk with Marie and help repair and clean parts of her house and learn more about her life. This was the most difficult part of the trip for me but also was an important lesson and reminder. Everyone has a different story and some people are not as fortunate as you, but they are the ones who are most joyful and grateful. We also spent time working at Uncommon Grounds Café and food banks, helping serve them in any way that they need. For a majority of our week, we worked with Communicycle, a non-profit organization, repairing and replacing bikes to give them to a kids’ summer camp. We spent a lot of time with Brownie, who helps out at Communicycle, and got to see how much of an impact he has left on people and how God has performed miracles in his life. One of my favorite parts about being on an ICO trip are the relationships and the people you meet and spend time with. We still talk to everyone we worked with during the fall and spring and go back to Uncommon Grounds Café to help them, in anyway they need.
Every night, we took time to talk about our highs, lows, and God sightings of the day. Thinking and answering these questions helped to keep our focus on why we were on this trip, to serve others through God. The fall trip had a positive impact on me but this trip really pushed me in my faith. If you are looking at Grove City College or have decided to come in the fall, I recommend looking into an ICO trip or going on one. Not only do you get to spend time with your peers, but you get to meet so many people in a different area and serve with them while doing it for the glory of God.
Over Spring Break, I was blessed to have the opportunity to lead ICO Arizona. ICO Arizona is one the many opportunities students have to travel around the United States to serve a local church and community. My first exposure to ICO was my sophomore year. I knew an upperclassman through my fraternity that was leading a student led trip to Tucson, Arizona. Looking back, I have never really been able to figure out why I exactly went but attribute my participation to God. My first year I was able to participate in the trip as a regular attendee but was later asked to lead the trip. The following is an account of my leadership experience and the unique opportunity ICO provides to students across campus.
ICO is one of the best things that has ever happened to me on this campus. The ICO (Inner City Outreach) program is such a unique way to serve the Lord along side people on campus you maybe would never talk too. What makes it so unique is that is completely student led. While the ICO and chapel department at the school help train the leaders, it is up to us when we get down their to be spiritual leaders to the rest of the people on our trip. The task is daunting! To know that you are responsible for a large amount of students is not an easy thing to accept. But what ICO provides is not only the lifelong relationships with your service community but also an opportunity for students to go out of their comfort zone and lead fearlessly into an unknown area. A lot of times students have natural abilities to lead but are not often exerted out of fear or lack of opportunity, but the ICO program provides opportunities for leaders and non-leaders to serve the Lord as well as find a church community that can pour into you, even if they live across the country.
A lot has been said about “short-term” missions but I can confidently say that ICO programs should be considered by all freshmen when coming into Grove City. There are endless opportunities for you to serve God on and off campus, but the ICO program has been one way that has personally affected me, and I want to see as many people have the same experience I did. While it might not be Arizona, every ICO program offers a fresh look at God that can be extremely fruitful for college students. I cannot wait to see you all out there serving!
Going into freshman year, I wasn’t involved in a lot of groups or activities on campus because of COVID-19 restrictions. Over the course of my freshman year, campus started to slowly make changes to try and go back to “normal.” As the spring semester ended, I knew that I wanted to join a group or different activities on campus to have community and get to know other students.
Coming back to school in the fall, I was part of OB (Orientation Board). It gave me the opportunity to grow closer with people I didn’t know very well and provide community to incoming freshmen. One of my friends from Orientation Board asked me what I was doing for fall break, and she proceeded to talk to me about an upcoming ICO trip. ICO is also referred to as Inner City Outreach, a small mission trip led by Grove City College students, taking place in different cities in multiple states, as well as a few countries. The only trip happening over fall break was ICO Aliquippa, and it was four days long. I grew up in the Pittsburgh area and have always been told that Aliquippa has a reputation for being unsafe and filled with crime. This made me very hesitant to want to go on the trip, but after talking to upperclassmen who went on the trip and listening to their experience, I decided that I wanted to go. I did not have high expectations, nor did I know what to expect before going on the trip. All I knew was that I was going out of my comfort zone and that made me very nervous and scared.
During the trip, we worked with a local church, Mount Carmel, and they felt like family at the end of the trip. We spent two days working on Janice’s house, a fellow believer. We got to paint her porch, do yardwork, and build her a new staircase to get into her house. The best part about working on her house was spending time with her, hearing about her life and how God has worked in it. We also got to spend time in the different plans (housing communities) playing with kids (lots and lots of face paint), doing Bible studies, handing out clothes, and serving food to families. We worked with a non-profit organization Communicycle that collected donated bikes to repair them and then give them to kids who do not have bikes. We spent time learning how to repair bikes and would drive around Aliquippa, handing out bikes to children.
Every night on the trip, the group would take time to reflect on the day and talk about their high and low and an instance of where they saw God that day. Asking these questions helped us to keep God at the center of our mind and of the trip. Looking back on the trip, I realized that Aliquippa is different than how it is perceived. People see Aliquippa as being a broken town with a high crime rate, but after spending time there, I see it in a different way. Although they do not have a lot, they have a strong community. They know people in different plans and all of their neighbors, treating each other like family. On the trip, I saw how present God was in each activity we did and how He is working through the people of Aliquippa. I cannot wait to go back to Aliquippa for the spring ICO trip and continue to share who God is to people. If you are looking for community at Grove City College, ICO trips provide amazing community with fellow students who want to share who God is with others!
ICO (Inner-City Outreach) Philadelphia is a short-term missions trip to the city of Philadelphia over the first half of Spring Break. Partnering with The Philadelphia Project (TPP), the student group works alongside those working and volunteering with TPP in three different ministries.
What are the different ministries the student work with?
The mercy ministries focus on going out into the parts of the city with a heavy population of homeless individuals handing out food and supplies, as well as taking time to pray and just talk with some of these people.
TPP has many different work sites in the area outside of Philadelphia, renovating the homes of those who sorely need it, but cannot afford it. The students go and work alongside trained professionals, doing projects ranging anywhere from painting to tearing down walls; the students have the opportunity to serve in a more hands on manner, making direct connections in the community.
Another ministry has a few different areas the students can go, one of these is the Whosoever Gospel Mission. The Mission on the surface is an establishment similar to the Salvation Army, complete with a thrift store and locations to donate goods. However, looking deeper, there is an amazing ministry happening just above the store. The Mission offers a place for recovering male addicts to land, recuperate and go back out into the world with a renewed mindset and a more stable (faith based) foundation. In this ministry, the students get to hear the incredible stories of some of these men. They will also get the chance to work alongside them in the sorting section of the thrift store.
What has ICO Philadelphia shown its participants?
Based on what past participants (and personal experience) have taught me, the strongest thing this trip
has brought its members is community. The community forged on this mission lasts far longer the the constraints of the trip itself. The relationships built, faiths strengthened and wisdom’s earned are those which cannot be broken and will last for years to come. Trips like these bring people together for a common goal that cannot be accomplished in such a short amount of time, but every bit (regardless of length) help tremendously. Working in the kingdom alongside other like-minded individuals, for the greater good, is truly something to marvel upon.
The Inner City Outreach (ICO) Fair is an event held in the student union every fall semester. The goal of this event is to inform the campus community about what ICO trips our college offers and how they can learn more about the details of these trips. This year we had informational tables set up for ten different ICO trips, most of which will be serving during spring break and the others over Thanksgiving or fall break. The trips in attendance were ICO Los Angeles, Rhode Island, Tucson, Guatemala, Philadelphia, Czech Republic, Chicago, Buffalo, and Grove City.
How did the campus community respond to the fair?
There was a great turnout from the community at the fair. Each trip had a table with their respective leaders there, ready to answer any questions about their trip and offer some insights that might help any fresh faces decide which ICO could be a good fit for them. Although the trickle of students coming in and out of the fair was steady, there was no one trip that dominated the students’ interest. Each table consistently had a number of students around and ready to hear what the leaders had to say about their trip. Most students made it a point to cycle through the room, hearing the stories of each individual trip in attendance, making sure to really get a feel for all of the trips and see where God might be leading them on this journey of service.
How can the students receive more information?
Students can sign up for email lists for individual trips to receive updates as well as look to various posters around campus. This will allow students to know when and where info meetings are being held and how they can take steps toward being on the team of their choosing.
Rachel and the ICO team in Ecuador (Photo Courtesy of Rachel Puls)Rachel and the ICO team building for the locals (Photo Courtesy of Rachel Puls)
An Inner-City Outreach (ICO) trip is a mission trip where Grove City College students go out to a certain city, some in the US and some abroad, by themselves and do different missions work while also experiencing the culture of the place they are traveling to.
Sophomore Rachel Puls, who is an Elementary and Special Education major recently went on an ICO trip to Shell Mera, Ecuador from December 27th to January 7th. Rachel went to Ecuador with a group of 15 other Grove City College students. I asked her what made her decide to go on this ICO trip, and she said, “I always knew that I wanted to eventually try a missions trip, so I impulsively went to the meeting and applied and got in.”
Rachel said she absolutely loved her experience on this trip and would love to eventually go back. While there, the team built a workshop for the people living in the jungle to take classes and learn trades/skills that will help them to get jobs and sell their merchandise in the future. They also did some connecting with the Waorani Indians and people living in Ecuador as well as authentically experienced the culture and some of their traditions since they were there during New Years.
I asked Rachel if she would recommend going on an ICO trip to others, and she said, “Going as far as I did is definitely not something for everyone, but I would encourage people to try at least one in their lifetime, even if it is just in your neighboring city. It is something that can really open your eyes to the Lord and help you to grow in ways you never thought possible.” This was Rachel’s first time going out of the country, and she said it was a great way to do it, and a way to truly experience other cultures.
She said her favorite part of the whole experience was being able to connect with so many people and not being worried about worldly or outside things, just being concerned with experiencing authentic communion together. I asked her if the trip met what she expected when signing up, and ultimately traveling there, and she said, “In some ways yes, but I also did not set many expectations and this trip went above and beyond for what I thought was going to happen and what I was going to see and experience.” She said the only downside to the whole trip was that some of the members of the group got sick toward the end, which was not the best.
Rachel said her favorite memory from the trip was when one day the team was hiking through the Amazon Jungle and she got to cut down banana trees with a machete!
Here on campus Rachel is a part of the ICO Ecuador team, and she is also a member of the Gamma Sigma Phi sorority, the Homecoming Committee, and a co-captain of the Women’s Club Lacrosse Team.
Every semester students are given the opportunity to participate in an ICO, which stands for Inner-City Outreach. ICO trips are held over just about every break during the school year and take place in cities all over the world. The trips are completely student led, with a team of students running the individual trips. Each fall there is an ICO Fair where information about the trips as well as application forms are provided. The teams are hand selected by the students running the team after much prayer and consideration. A unique part about ICOs compared to other missions trips is that an application is necessary to even be considered for the trip. This allows the people planning the trip to choose the right students for the team. Over Christmas break we have three teams going out for anywhere between 11-14 days. These teams will be serving and doing missions work in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Jamaica. While the location of the trip is different, the mindset of the people going on them is the same: Serve the Lord and make an impact for his kingdom. Between the three trips there will be a variety of work being done. Some will work in schools and run a VBS program, others will minister through sports, and others will serve by building houses and helping with construction related things. ICO trips are a great way to get involved for a greater cause, meet new people, travel the country and most importantly learn more about the Lord. The most common thing people say coming back from trips like these is that they went in hoping to make an impact on the people and found that a greater impact was made on them by the people they went to serve.
There are roughly 10 trips that take place each year, with opportunities to serve both in and out of the United States. Although the same trips take place year to year, there is always opportunity for the beginning of new trips. For example, this Thanksgiving a team of students went to Rhode Island (pictured to the right) to serve at a completely new location in hopes to start a trip that would continue to happen for years to come. Other trips are held within the same country, but find new missions opportunities each year. The Ecuador trip, for example, is going to a completely new location this year and is focusing more on serving the missionaries than serving the people in the community, which is different than their previous tips. Although there is room for new additions, many of the trips that are offered have been going to the same location for years and are able to for close relationships with both the children and missionaries that they serve. The Jamaica trip has been going to Robins Nest Children Home for roughly five years now, and will continue to go there as long as they are able to. These three trips are just a small example of the impact ICOs are making globally. If given the opportunity to go on one I would not pass it up. Serving the kingdom alongside your classmates and learning about the Lord together grows people in a unique way and offers an experience that not many people will get.
Signing up for an Inner City Outreach (ICO) trip over spring break was the very best decision I made my first year at Grove City College. Since then, I have been a part of three ICO teams, and I am leading a trip this spring. That, however, is another story altogether. Most recently, I traveled with 18 other students to Providence, Rhode Island over Thanksgiving break to volunteer at a rescue mission.
While there, we gave out over 300 turkeys, organized a pantry, painted a room, served Thanksgiving dinner, smashed cardboard, set up cots, and bagged at least 300 pounds of potatoes (I still have nightmares about the potatoes). We worked hard all week long, and accomplished a lot for the mission. By Thursday, they even began to run out of projects for us to work on.
I was amazed at what 19 people were able to accomplish in less than a week. Not only did we help prepare and serve the Thanksgiving meal, we also got to meet some incredible people. The people who work at the mission are so loving and giving, working with them was truly inspiring and humbling.
The real story here is not the work we did, but rather how God worked that week. God used the stories of the people I met to constantly remind me of how blessed I am. The entire week was a lesson in humility and gratitude.
Needless to say, student-led mission trips are one of my favorite things Grove City College has to offer. The experiences I have had, the people I have met, and the friends I have made through these trips have been among the biggest blessings God has given me in my time at the college. I would absolutely recommend them to anybody looking for a way to serve God by serving others over school breaks.
When I was a freshman at Grove City, I remember filling out an application for something and it asked me “How will your college be different because you have been there?” To be honest, this question completely stumped me. At the time, I had no idea how I (an average student from a tiny high school in the middle of nowhere) would be able to have any impact at all on Grove City College.
Now, two and a half years later, I can look back and see how that question has shaped my college experience thus far. It struck a chord somewhere within me and I began to search for opportunities to impact people and the college community during my four years here.
My search was far more fruitful than I could have imagined. For the sake of simplicity, I will summarize my results in three categories:
1. Opportunities for learning…outside the classroom
Grove City College hosts numerous guest lecturers and discussion events every semester. The topics range anywhere from Ronald Reagan to worldwide missions to “Wasting Time Well.” I have enjoyed events like the annual Reagan Lecture, Missions Conference, and tea time with Grove City women. There are also numerous Bible studies and smaller discussion groups. These types of opportunities have allowed me to learn from both my peers and renowned speakers, and attending them offers support to the College and the types of events that they will continue to hold in the future.
2. Opportunities for leadership
More often than not, this goes hand-in-hand with point number three. Here at Grove City, opportunities for leadership exist everywhere you look. Students have leadership opportunities in over 150 clubs and organizations. These range from Student Government to Greek groups to campus ministries to professional and academic organizations to intramural sports to academic honoraries, and the list could go on. Personally, these opportunities have helped me find my voice and built me into the person I am today.
3. Opportunities for service
Service opportunities abound on this lovely campus. Many, if not all, of the leadership opportunities mentioned above are fantastic ways to serve both your peers as well as the student body and community as a whole. Students have the opportunity to become Resident Assistants, to serve Christ on spring break Inner City Outreach (ICO) trips, and to take part in numerous campus and community ministries including Young Life, Project Okello, and a prison ministry. I have traveled to Ashland, Kentucky on an ICO trip every year over spring break, and those trips have been an excellent time of service, learning, growth, and blessing for me.
So Grove City College provides all of these magnificent opportunities, but what does that mean for students? It means that Grove City students have more opportunities to impact (and be impacted by) their peers and college community than you might realize. It means that Grove City College gives its students so much more than a four-year degree in their subject of choice – it offers them four years of personal growth and impact.
ICO (Inner City Outreach) trips are a unique component of the campus ministry opportunities offered at Grove City College. These trips, often taking place during breaks within the school year, allow teams of students to travel and share God’s love in cities around the world. The teams often partner with a church or a local mission organization during their stay. Being a part of ICO trips myself, I have first-hand experience with how impactful these experiences can be. With so many options for interested students, it can be difficult to choose. In order to hopefully remedy this situation, below is a list of many trips offered at the College and a short summary that can provide insight to frequently asked questions.
ICO Arizona (Tucson, Arizona)
During Spring Break, the Arizona team stays at Life in Christ Community Church. The church is located right in the middle of a neighborhood located in the outskirts of Tucson. Throughout the week, the team spends time completing labor-intensive service projects at the church. The church building is quite old, and congregation members often do not have the time or finances available to keep up with projects throughout the year. The team also spends a lot of time engaging in outreach projects alongside Life in Christ Community Church. For example, spending time assisting a feeding ministry at the church and aiding local homeowners in the neighborhood with home projects. The team also enjoys hearing radical testimonies of many members of the congregation. The cost fluctuates with air fare, but is usually around $550.
“[A favorite memory from the trip] was walking up Mt. Tumamock the last night and seeing the beautiful view of Tucson. Here, the team shares stories of how they saw the Lord work each day.” – Sarah W.
ICO Arizona 2017
ICO Guatemala (San Andres, Sajcabaja)
The Guatemala team travels to Hogar de Vida Orphanage in San Andres, Sajcabaja over Spring Break. They spend time playing with the children and helping complete service projects at the orphanage. Typically, these projects include painting and laying concrete. Sometimes, the team makes a trip to a nearby aldea (village) to minister and serve the people that live there. The team strives to show the love of Christ to whomever they serve. The cost of the trip is between $1500- 1800, but due to fundraising usually a small fraction of this is out of pocket.
“My favorite memory was having a cookout and bonfire on our last night at the orphanage. The leaders in charge of the oprhanage, Sebastian and Oralia, shared their testimonies and spoke on how God had led them to Hogar de Vida. Everyone from the orphanage and on our team gathered together to fellowship and spend one last evening together. It was a great time to wrap up our trip and had another chance to spend a little more time with the people.” – Joel S.
ICO Guatemala 2017
ICO Chicago (Chicago, Illinois)
During Spring Break, the Chicago team resides at Central Assembly of God, a church on the outside of Chicago. Generally, the team splits their time three ways during the day. This year, they are going to spend their mornings partnering with Pacific Garden Missions, where they will help serve lunch and set up dorms for the homeless. In the afternoons, the team will spend their time working on a construction project at Living Hope Church. In the evenings, the team will return to Central Assembly of God to run a Vacation Bible School for the neighborhood kids. The cost for the trip is around $230.
“My favorite memory would be VBS at the end of week my second year. One of the kids asked for a Bible, but we couldn’t find any children’s Bibles available to hand out. One of our trip participants offered her own personal Bible to this kid, and watching this exchange happen was an incredibly experience I will never forget.” – Alex H.
ICO Chicago 2017
ICO Los Angeles (Los Angeles, California)
The Los Angeles team spends their time serving at the Dream Center – an outreach organization in Los Angeles for the duration of Spring Break. The team doesn’t know their specific schedule until they get there, but they generally do two outreaches every day. In the past, these experiences have included a Skid Row outreach, food truck outreach, “Kidzjam” which is like a VBS, cleaning churches, assisting the men and women in the discipleship program with their daily tasks and chores, after school tutoring. The team has an abundance of opportunities to do street evangelism during the week. Although this is daunting for some team members, they have seen God’s faithfulness through and through. The cost for this trip is dependent on air fare, but usually around $850.
“I’ve been on the trip two years in a row and the first year, I met a woman named Katie who was in the discipleship program. I remember her giving her testimony in church the first day we were there and then me and a few other girls on the trip got to hang out with her during the week while we helped her clean a classroom. She had grown up in an abusive home and got into some pretty rough stuff throughout high school, which eventually led to a meth addiction and various unhealthy relationships. She said she had come to the Dream Center as a last resort after recognizing the hopelessness she felt. The next year I went on ICO LA, we were on a food truck outreach and I saw Katie. She was no longer in the discipleship program – she had graduated from it, free of addiction and with a solidified identity in Christ. She is now serving full time through the Dream Center – leading the food truck outreach every day. I got to talk to her and was SO encouraged by how the LORD has transformed her life. How drastically her life had changed in just one year! God is SO GOOD!” -Rebekah R.
ICO LA 2017
ICO Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA)
The Philadelphia team works alongside the Philadelphia Project. The team stays with the Philadelphia Project interns’ house during Spring Break. The team serves by completing construction projects, serving the homeless, and helping with the Philadelphia Project’s preschool and after school programs. The cost is around $330.
“My favorite memories include all the car ride jams, Chinese fire drills, and silly games we play with each other and the staff at the Philadelphia Project. On a more serious note, the time sharing testimonies was very influential and good for personal and team growth.” – Darla M.
