St. Bonaventure University is a small Franciscan institution, with some 2,000 undergraduates, tucked away in far western New York State. It’s the kind of place where people get to know each other.
That spirit is no better evident than late afternoon at the Warming House in downtown Olean, a town of 15,000 located about three miles from the St. Bonaventure campus. It is there where a vital part of the school’s Franciscan dimension is lived.
Impoverished townspeople are treated, literally, as guests, with a nutritious meal served six times a week by students and their helpers. In the long, cold winters in Olean, a bond is forged between students and townspeople. The Warming House is the kind of place where everyone knows your name.
“Franciscan values are here,” notes Fr. Steve Kuehn, OFM, university chaplain. “We are here to build the whole human person through care for others.” Education at St. Bonaventure’s, he says, extends far beyond the classroom, part of a long tradition.
The Warming House began back in 1974 as a community center established by students. The gatherings soon attracted children, and the original menu of doughnuts and coffee expanded to more nutritious fare.
Today, meals are served six days a week. Dinner is at 4 p.m. Guests are invited to stay and talk or to use carryout service. Led by student coordinators, each night the Warming House serves up to 45 guests with the help of three to five student and volunteer hosts from the wider community, who prepare the meals and serve at the tables.
“The students receive a hands-on experience you can’t get in a classroom,” says Mike (Hiryu) Wasada, a recent graduate of St. Bonaventure and assistant director of the school’s Franciscan Center of Social Concern, the office which oversees Warming House as well as other student service projects. Warming House is supported by 1,000 student volunteers as well as 250 volunteers from the wider community and St. Bonaventure faculty and staff.
A wide gamut of university life is involved. School administrators, faculty, and sports teams serve as volunteers. A management class collaborates with Warming House, seeking out better ways to serve clients via a real-life lesson in leadership.
Last year, the Warming House served more than 9,000 meals. At its height, during Covid, Warming House served more than 23,000 per year, with a focus at that time on badly needed takeout orders.
Guests now include old friends as well as new ones, some of whom face recent economic hardships. Student volunteers learn quickly how people like their coffee and make a point of knowing everyone’s names. No identification or paperwork is required for guests. Everyone is welcome. The mindset is to mimic Francis’ concern for the poor and outcasts of medieval Assisi. The motto of Warming House is based on three words: “Dignity. Community. Nourishment.”
Warming House is just one of the service projects run through the Franciscan Center of Social Concern at St. Bonaventure. Another popular project is Bona Buddies, a mentoring program in which student volunteers provide guidance for young people in the community.
Young people from the Olean area, ages 5-15, come to campus and connect with students in a program similar to Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
SBU @SPCA unites student volunteers with pets and dogs at a local shelter awaiting adoption who need care and attention, a project which mimics St. Francis’ love for God’s creatures.
Volunteers also staff a food pantry for students, a project which began seven years ago after university administrators became aware of food needs among students who struggle to make ends meet.
During school breaks, students use their own time to travel far beyond Olean to work on school break service projects at the St. Francis Inn in Philadelphia, a Franciscan-run outreach in the inner-city. The program is called “Break the Bubble,” an opportunity for the small-town college students to experience a wider urban vision. Another program offers a chance for students to visit a local assisted living facility as well as elderly sisters at the nearby Allegheny Franciscan motherhouse.
The array of projects is a way the St. Bonaventure community looks beyond its campus nestled in the hills of rural Western New York State.
Fr. Steve is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a naval officer. The military has its ideal of service, but he says what he sees around campus is particularly inspiring.
“I am in awe. When I was at the service academy, I never did the service things that these students are doing. They are being exposed to this at a young age,” he says.