Providence provides many opportunities for students to be involved in the local community as well as the global community through mission/service projects.  The drive of these mission trips is to bring a "cup of cold water" in Christ's name as well as to expand the worldview of students through a broad range of experiences.  Typically these projects fall into two categories: local service projects and national/international service/mission trips.

Local Service Projects
These projects typically consist of day trips to local ministries or schools.  Students spend the day performing manual labor tasks, tutoring students, and interacting with the local population and culture.  Examples of these projects include:

His Nesting Place (Long Beach, CA)
This ministry provides shelter for single mothers in the greater Los Angeles area.  Providence students have helped with a variety of manual labor tasks such as cleaning up the grounds.

Camp Hope (Ontario, CA)
Camp Hope is better known to local residents as "Tent City" and is home to hundreds of homeless people who live in tents in a vacant lot in Ontario.  Providence students have had opportunity to bring food to the residents (and Valentine's Day cupcakes).  Even more so, the students appreciated the opportunity to relate with the people- putting a "face" on homelessness.

LA Regional Food Bank (Los Angeles, CA)
One of the Providence sponsored 4-W Experiences, students traveled to the LA Food Bank on a Saturday to sort and package food for the homeless and elderly folks of the greater LA area.  Students were amazed by the amount of food that the food bank provides and were greatly impacted by the experience of "providing" food for others.

Read more about this here.

Harambee Christian School and Ministry (Pasadena, CA)
A group of education students along with Steve Kortenhoeven, education professor, traveled to this inner city school to observe the education in this setting.  They also had opportunity to tutor some of the elementary students in different subjects. 

Mercy House (Pomona, CA)
During new student orientation, Providence students traveled to this local homeless shelter to clean and paint many of the rooms in the facility. 

National/International Mission Trips
These longer term mission trips typically involve travel and an extended stay in a culture different from the student's own culture.  Examples of some of these missions trips include:

Baja 4-W Experience
Providence students travel to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico each fall for a weekend service project.  They work with Dave and Jane Crum, OPC missionaries, on different manual labor projects as well as canvasing the area in the hopes of encouraging the local population to attend the churches there.  This cross-cultural experience also teaches Providence students about the global nature of the body of Christ.

Honduras Mission Trip
In coordination with an international medical ministry organization, Providence biology students traveled to Honduras on a medical missions trip.  Much of the time was spent

Dominican Republic Mission Trip
This mission trip is coordinated with the Providence May Term each year and is designed to give student practical experience within their major program; however, this experience comes in a third world country setting. 

Costa Rica Mission Trip
During the Mid term break (February 28-March 8), Providence students will travel to Costa Rica to work with Rev. Bill and Aletha Green, missionaries there.  They will peform a variety of service projects while also interact with and observing the people and culture of Costa Rica.  If you would like to check in with the group during their trip, please read their blog.