The Vice President Visits A Jesuit Volunteer Corp Fundraising Event

Laura Magnotta met Vice President Joe Biden last week. Laura, a Scranton native working with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Washington, D.C., was at a fundraiser at the Franciscan Monastery.

"There were rumblings once we got there that the VP, Joe Biden, might be in attendance, but no one was sure,"

Laura wrote to her friends, including Johnny Mesko, a JVC volunteer in Cleveland, in an e-mail.

"The vice president's son, Hunter, was in the JVC in Portland, so there was speculation he might attend the event. "

At around 6:30, the Secret Service showed up confirming that yes, indeed, the VP was coming. We didn't know when though," Laura noted, adding,

"So it was my turn to be the greeter, and I turned around from hanging someone's coat up and I saw him - Joe Biden."

Link (here) to the Jesuit Volunteer Corp. website highlighting the event and (here) to the full original piece in the Scranton Times-Tribune.

Vice President Joseph Biden on Abortion (here) , (here) and (here)

How Can Cohabitation Of Unmarried Men And Woman Improve Ones Spirituality?

The Jesuit Volunteer Corps is a full-time Roman Catholic volunteer organization affiliated with the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, that has been placing volunteers in organizations and agencies for over 50 years. And what I mean by full-time, these volunteers are people who are usually recent college graduates who will take a full-time staff position in a grassroots human service agency or inner city school or any place that works with people in need.

This year there are over 300 volunteers domestically in the United States and we have over 50 overseas in seven different countries. The types of agencies and organizations where we place these volunteers run the gamut.

We've got, as I said, the schools, AIDS hospices, employment services, economic development, housing, refugee services, services to developmentally challenged persons, women's services, youth work, and just about anything else that there's an agency serving a need, we have a Jesuit volunteer usually affiliated with them.

In addition to the really 40-plus hours a week of service, because again they serve as a staff person in the agencies, we also have a formation program that consists of a series of retreats and workshops that deal with not only the personal spiritual lives of the volunteers but also a reflection on their experiences,

We place them together in each location in intentional communities so that the volunteers living in a particular locale live together. They share meals.

They live in a neighborhood that’s very similar to those, the people that they're working with. how to process this experience of meeting the needy and the poor on a daily basis and really reflecting on the causes, what put these folks in this situation. There is a small cost to the agencies in terms of the volunteers receive room and board and health insurance just in order to live for the year. 
 Link (here) to the full speech by  Kevin O'Brien President of Jesuit Volunteer Board.

Is JVC A Minor League For Jesuits?

Many of the people revel in the challenges and take joy and pride in their way of life.  Justin, who is finishing up two years with the Jesuit Volunteer Corp., said he “wanted to come to the Bush Country of Alaska ever since he was a little kid.”  He is discerning the priesthood, and has been leading the youth group for 8^th-12^th graders.

Link (here) to the full blog post at Catholic Extension.

Partisan Jesuit Volunteers

......as I wrote in "Marked for life," is the effect on the volunteers. They become engaged, informed members of their community and country (one former Jesuit Volunteer became a Senator--Bob Casey of PA). But here's the rub: Being in contact with the poor day in and day out and living simply without much money leads volunteers to empathize with the poor, so these engaged citizens know just how important all the programs that serve the poor are.  There’s a sidebar to the print version of "Marked for life" that didn’t make it online. It compares former Jesuit volunteers to the general population of college graduates. Former volunteers tend to be more Democratic. The breakdown for volunteers is 7 percent Republican, 62 percent Democrat, and 19 percent Independent, while college grads in the General Social Survey were 33 percent Republican, 30 percent Democrat, and 37 percent independent. I'm sure the numbers are similiar for non-Catholic volunteer programs.

Link (here)  The US Catholic

What I Miss About Georgetown

I still miss my weekly traditions at Georgetown, like the $1 Vanilla Coke from Vittles or Snaxa (maybe because soda is a luxury that I can only afford with 3 gallon bottles of non-name brand soda at the dollar store), GUGS burgers (maybe because of the 8 people in our house, 3 are vegetarians, and meat is expensive, so we’ve been going sans meat for most of our dinners. Fortunately, I get lunch at work and they don’t go light on meat :) ), GPB events (Ace of Cakes at Georgetown really makes me jealous), and Steck’s Mass and the 7:30/8pm Mass (I’ll leave Pep Band off this list for the moment, since it’s not basketball season yet). I get a little taste of the 8pm Mass at the Church I’ve been going to, since they use the same Gloria, only they do not do it nearly as well as at Georgetown.

Link (here) to Matt's full post at Life of a Jesuit Volunteer.

Jesuit Volunteer: Patrick Manning

My Jesuit Volunteer Corp Placement: Day 1

I had an excellent first day at my placement. FLOC gave me a great orientation, lots of time meeting with the executive director, program coordinators, and my new colleague, a Lutheran Volunteer who is also from the Portland area. Kristina and I are both the high school program instructors for FLOC. She is teaching the freshman seminars. I'll be teaching the sophomores and we are co-teaching the junior classes. All grade levels pertain to students pursuing post-secondary education. The day went by quickly, and the program even took Kristina and I out for lunch in Adams Morgan. The program for students starts on September 14. But until then we are busy with lesson plans and finishing up our training for the school year.

It was great coming home tonight to my housemates and talking about our days' over dinner. After dinner, we went over to the other JVC house and had a community night with some former JVs. I'm looking forward to my upcoming year with FLOC and my experience with the JVC.

Information on FLOC:
http://flocdc.org/

Columbia Heights (area where we live):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Heights,_Washington,_D.C.

Adams Morgan (area where I work):
http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams_Morgan,_Washington,_D.C.

A Jesuit Volunteer In Micronesia And His Boils

The last activity - titled "the Carbuncle Challenge" has been an ongoing activity ever since I arrived in Pohnpei. I realize that by sharing my stories of boils in a public setting, I am forfeiting any dates that may have been coming my way in the future. Oh well - my boil count is approximately at 4. I will only expand on the ones that are interesting.

As more and more JVs volunteer in exotic climates, it seems like boils get more and more nicknames. For example, I have already had a "Watson" and hopefully will never get a "Hendricks." I feel like I have a new term to introduce to the boil world. The "Prouhet."

A multi-headed boil located on the head. For me specifically, my left temple. My most recent one was on my knee and kept me up hours and hours while trying to sleep.

I had plenty of time to listen to our cats chasing the rats in our ceiling. I just picture a classic Tom and Jerry episode happening directly over my head.

So yeah, so many activities happening lately. I can see why Luke and Jo say that time really flies when school is in session. I would love to keep going, but progress reports are due tomorrow and I need to get on it. Kaselel till next post!

Link (here) to Philip full blog post entitled, So Many Things, his blog is call Micronesian Times

A Jesuit Volunteer In Baltimore: Tom O'Keefe

Last Thursday, after moving my things into the Baltimore JV House in Charles Village, getting a tour of Cristo Rey Jesuit Baltimore, and riding a Duck Boat around Baltimore, I hugged my family goodbye at BWI Airport and joined 90 other JVC East JV’s and staff at Bellarmine Retreat Center in Blue Ridge Summit, PA for Orientation. The picturesque, rural Pennsylvania setting was a perfect meeting place for such a vibrant, excited, and nervous group of young people beginning a year of service promising to “ruin” us “for life”.

As I met the different people there, it became apparent that, though we were all from different places in the US and beyond, attended colleges in different locales, and came from differing backgrounds, we were all good people with a real sense of purpose and love for what we were doing.

We introduced ourselves to one another and learned about our different placements. There were nine Gonzaga graduates from the west coast, a few Holy Cross graduates familiar with Worcester, a Providence graduate from New Jersey who knew some friends from home and Villanova, a communication major working in legal services, and, in my case, a Villanova graduate rooming with a St. Joseph’s University (PA) graduate (*GASP!*). The retreat was a truly amazing way for so many selfless, energetic, and absolutely amazing people to come together.

Link (here) to the full post by Tom O'Keefe, his blog is entitled Volunteacher

Jesuit Volunteer Used To Organize Political Protest?

The last week has allowed me to prove to myself countless times how utterly unqualified I am for the myriad of projects that I have decided to undertake. I poked and prodded at compost, researched endlessly Maritime Northwest gardening practices, and contemplated harnessing the 37 inches of rain a year to flush our downstairs toilet.

At work I am redesigning the Real Change Organizing Project website, developing a new logo, and creating a new organizing strategy for the Greater Seattle Area. It should be noted that I don’t even remember the last time I organized a birthday party let alone a thousand person protest.

Regardless I have taken to diving headfirst into every project. After a week the compost is a pile of garbage, the garden has yet to be built, and there was 60 day stretch this summer without rain. The logo is little more than a couple of rough sketches, I am reviewing website tutorials because I don’t speak HTML, and the executive director of Real Change shot down most of our organizing ideas. So where does this leave me exactly?

Link (here) to the full post by the Jesuit Volunteer Niko Simonson, his blog is entitled $80.00 a Month.