Each fall, the Religious Activities Committee selects up to eight Grove City College students to participate in a summer-long foreign missions trip. Each participant is provided with funds through Red Box Missions, a program supported entirely through donations from student organizations, alumni, local churches, and friends. Recently, Red Box missionaries have served in Cambodia, Bulgaria, Armenia, Guatemala, Mauritius, Brazil, and Hungary and with Athletes in Action in Ohio.
Applications for summer 2019 trips are available September 3 through October 1, 2018. Applications must be received by 4 p.m. on Monday, October 1.
Email completed forms, including the letters of recommendation, to Zachary Pitcher, Chapel Ministries Coordinator. Please be sure each application and letter of recommendation is titled with the applicant’s name.
During Inner City Outreach (ICO) trips, Grove City College students travel to cities throughout the United States and beyond to minister to others and share the Gospel. The program offers an average of 15 trips annually, with almost half going to international destinations. ICO trips are student initiated and student led. Grove City College provides training and resources for the leaders of each approved trip.
ICO trip leaders have a great responsibility and a great privilege. Leaders are responsible for communicating with the host ministry site, making travel, lodging, and meal arrangements, disseminating information to trip participants, managing the finances related to trip costs, preparing trip participants both spiritually and mentally for the trip, turning in all necessary paperwork to the Office of Campus Ministries, and making decisions while at the ministry site. Because of these many responsibilities, Grove City College requires that all trip leaders go through training sessions to prepare spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.
Center for Disease Control & Prevention — Traveler’s Health: This site provides information on recommended vaccinations for countries throughout the world and where you can get these vaccinations. It is highly recommended that students receive the vaccinations and/or disease prevention medications recommended for their travel destination.
U.S. Department of State — Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP): We highly recommend your registering with the U.S. Department of State's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program. Registration makes your team's presence and whereabouts within the country you are visiting known in case it is necessary for a U.S. consular officer to contact you in an emergency. This is especially important if there is a disaster or an emergency overseas as a U.S. consular officer can assist in evacuation.
U.S. Department of State — International Travel Information: This site provides country specific information, travel warnings, and alerts. Please note that if the U.S. Department of State lists a country as having a travel alert, the Office of Campus Ministries and the Office of International Education staff will meet with trip leaders. If a country is placed on a travel warning, students will not be permitted to travel to that country, and the trip will be cancelled.
U.S. Department of State — Passport Information: This site provides helpful information about applying for and renewing a passport.
Mango is an interactive, online language-learning software. We encourage ICO leaders and participants to use Mango to gain a foundational knowledge of the language in the country where they will be serving. Mango covers 56 languages, including Chinese (Mandarin), German, Japanese, French, Italian, and Spanish (Latin America). In order to use Mango you need to be on campus or connected via VPN (Virtual Private Network). Register and start using Mango by logging in with your Grove City College username and password.
There are three ways to make a tax-deductible gift to the ICO program:
Send a check made payable to Grove City College to: Grove City College - Office of Advancement 100 Campus Drive Grove City, PA 16127-2197 Please be sure to write ICO trips in the memo line of your check.
Visit Make a Gift and follow the instructions. Be sure to denote that you want your gift to go toward the ICO program.
Call toll-free 1-866-386-3422.