The Augustinian Volunteer program is loosely modeled on the Peace Corps. Young volunteers from the community give a year of their lives. Some teach others work in clinics and homeless shelters. In all cases, the Augustinian friars support these volunteers with expenses like health insurance, room and board, transportation and sometimes student loans.

For over 200 years, the Augustinians have served the poor and marginalized in the United States, Peru, South Africa and Japan. Friars provide for humanitarian needs, including housing and health care. They may build a school or maintain an orphanage. Regardless of location, each Augustinian Mission is a long-term commitment.

The Augustinians believe there can be no real peace without justice for all and have created a program in Philadelphia that works to give everyone - indigents as well as immigrants - fair treatment and access to important services like health care, legal counsel, pre-school classes for children and courses on English as a Second Language. 

The Augustinians' most recent initiative is a prison ministries program. The program enables Augustinian friars to supplement chaplains in the Philadelphia prison system,e ven working with prisonersafter discharge - to give them support as they return to family and community.

Although Augustinian friars are often associated with a particular institution, like a university or a parish, they receive no financial support from those institutions. Today, the average age of an Augustinian friar is sixty-five, and many need help with daily tasks. As part of the recent renovation of the monastery in Villanova, a floor has been designated as a residential health care center. The friars, who have given so generously throughout their lives, now have a comfortable and well-staffed care facility within their monastery.