Mercy Mondays: Assistant rugby coach Joseph Goff shares his service story

My Service Story – by Joseph Goff 

Joseph Goff is Salve Regina University’s assistant coach of men’s rugby, has a B.A. in marketing and business administration ’18, and a M.A. in clinical mental health counseling ’21.

Service became prevalent in my life beginning back in 2010 when I started High School at Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx, New York. We were required to do over 100 community service hours to graduate, with a goal at graduation to become “Men for Others.”

Originally, service was kind of a drag to me — something I had to do — until I really started putting my feet to the pavement. I got involved with the campus ministry board and the annual Hunger Awareness Drive — where we collected and delivered canned and dry foods to food pantries throughout the Bronx and helped distribute to community members.

While volunteering at the local level was great, my perspective was broadened when I traveled to Appalachia, Tennessee, with Habitat for Humanity. I realized service was actually a great gift not only to others —but to myself. It was something I was lucky to do, not something I had to do. It brought gratitude, perspective and meaning into my life.

This continued when I got to Salve Regina. During my time here, I traveled to Nicaragua with the Center for Community Engagement and Service. A former rugby captain and friend, Alex Dimauro, encouraged me to join the trip as it had a major impact on him, and I’m very grateful he did. This trip reinvigorated my passion for travel, community service and making new connections.

Shortly after returning, I began my internship with A-1 Roofing and Construction here in Newport, Rhode Island. My first major project as a business development intern was a community outreach initiative with a program called No Roof Left Behind in which we provided cost-free roofs to families or individuals in need.

Three years later, I now work as the company’s marketing and community outreach director. It has been a great pleasure to have a boss, Sean Napolitano, who believes community service and involvement is just as important as any other part of the business. I’ve now had the opportunity to meet and work with many families and organizations on the island and learn about their respective stories and challenges.

My experience in service has also inspired me to prioritize service as part of Salve Regina’s rugby team, of which I am the assistant coach. Getting involved in service projects is a great way for our team to stay busy, keep the minds going and develop a deeper connection to the community they live in. We look forward to the continued success of the program both on and off the field, as the rugby team has already gone on service trips to help out the community.

The rugby team helped clean up a senior center recently. “Being able to help out the other day was awesome,” said Jack Barter ’21, men’s rugby captain. “Salve rugby is all about growing as people and helping out in anyway we can, so it was a no brainer when the opportunity to clean up at the senior center was given to us.”

This post is part of an ongoing series called Mercy Mondays that highlights Salve Regina’s dedication to its Mercy Mission. Search the tag Mercy Mission for more updates on the Mercy branches of Salve Regina.