Community Service Office

The Lehigh University Community Service Office was established in the fall of 1996 to provide a coordinated effort for students, faculty, and staff to engage in service to the greater Lehigh Valley area. Our mission is to further develop students, faculty, and staff as active citizens who value and contribute to their community by responding to community needs through meaningful action.

As a strong partner in the educational mission of Lehigh University, we are intentional about providing students with significant experiential learning opportunities in the community. Students can engage with our office through six core areas:

• Volunteerism & Public Service
• Leadership Development & Education
• Civic & Democratic Engagement
• Community Schools & Community Education
• Experiential Learning
• Engaged Scholarship, Pedagogy & Praxis

It is through these powerful experiences that we believe our Lehigh students will feel more empowered to create positive social change at the local, national, and global level.

We're privileged to be a part of the South Bethlehem community, rich in history and culture, and work continuously to foster strong relationships with community organizations and the Lehigh community. We appreciate your generous support in supporting both our Lehigh students and our South Bethlehem community - quite simply, we could not do this work without you!

Our 2024 Goal: The last two years have been challenging on our office vehicles. From accidents (not our fault, we promise!) to the expansion of programming, we are in a position of needing to add another minivan and a mini cargo van to support our office operations. With the opening of the food pantry at one of our community schools, Fountain Hill Elementary, we are responsible for the collection and transport of close to 3,000 pounds of food weekly - and have found that the community need for the pantry is outpacing the weight capacity of our vehicles.