By Audrey Elwood, Campus Editor and Grace Campagna, Newswire Intern 

The Musketeer Ministries is a bus that goes around Norwood, Evanston and Avondale to meet locals where they are at in life. 

The resources provided includes material needs like hot meals, snacks, clothing items, seasonal needs and resource guides. They also provide a social need, through building community with students and the people surrounding campus. 

“Musketeer Ministries is kind of the child of the ministry of Michele Bailes, who’s an ASL professor,” senior social work major and one of the creators of Musketeer Ministries Ben Dickison said. “The Holy Spirit, I don’t think, allows her to let things fail, so she’s been able to move in incredible ways and has been very generous in donating, through her ministry, the bus to Xavier.”

Bailes is an American Sign Language (ASL) professor at Xavier, and also the creator of the Broken Bus Ministries. She and her husband started the ministries by going downtown outside of Shelterhouse, a predominant and well-resourced emergency shelter. Musketeer Ministries is an extension of Broken Bus Ministries’ work, bringing the same mission and resources from Xavier’s campus into the community. 

“All they had was just this whisper in their hearts that they could use their time and their talent and their treasure to make a positive impact, but also to be impacted in a positive way by going down and trying to encounter people through food and material goods,” Dickison said. 

Along with Dickison, the project was the brainchild of junior sport management and Philosophy, Politics and the Public major Tyler Hawatmeh, junior chemistry major Michele Ampadu and Balias. The Musketeer Ministries can take up to six students at a time to help the community. 

“We found the park near campus, and it was a nice area for us to stop and have conversations with people, find out who they truly are, what they want and need and just show them that God is still working in their life,” Ampadu said. “No amount of words could put the mission together, but it’s to build a bigger community around Norwood, because you drive around and see people experiencing homelessness and ask, ‘What can I do to help?’”

When the bus is not in operation, it can be found in the H-lot parking lot. The mural across the bus was painted by junior nursing major Izzy King.

“We have that mission. We know what’s important to us, and we have to keep on giving. In life, you can’t just sit there and expect change to happen. You have to keep on giving,” Ampadu said.