IVC New England Accepting Volunteer Applications for 2020-2021
|
|
Though our normal operations have been disrupted by the virus and many of our partner agencies are scrambling to reinvent their approaches for assisting those whom they seek to serve, nationally and locally IVC is piecing together plans for the coming (September to June) year.
That means we are now welcoming applications for 2020-2021. If you have considered joining the IVC Service Corps - becoming an Ignatian Volunteer, there is great need right now, and we encourage your application. Click
here for an application form.
We are compiling a
list of on-site and remote opportunities, adjusting them each week as the realities of September needs evolve. Our current volunteers and our partner agencies are giving us feedback which is helping us to envision how we can best help those who are feeling the brunt of the virus and who were facing more than a fair amount of life's challenges before the virus came.
This list mentions some of our current needs. It will be regularly updated on our website. Contact our office for up-to-date information. Spread the word that IVC is alive and well and looking for volunteers in the coming year.
|
|
I
gnatian Volunteers Explore Divinity in the Darkness
|
Since the March outbreak of the coronavirus in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, IVC New England monthly meetings have become digital. In our May meeting, New England volunteers reflected upon where they found "Divinity in the Darkness" - signs of life during difficult times. Many thoughts emerged in the sharing. Among the discoveries:
- Watching the Papal Mass and feeling that we are all so connected
- Being outside at this time of year, thankful that it is not January
- Getting to know some friends and family more deeply
- People finding ways to reach out to one another
- Teachers singing in videos
- God working through bad things to make them good - community being formed
- Encountering neighbors to whom I never paid attention before
- Eye contact with others forced by the wearing of masks
- Noticing the flowers when I walk, crocuses popping up in curbstones and walls
- Hoping for the realization that this is the time that we need to invest in infrastructure, health care, and the environment
- Joy in seeing volunteers generously involved, people stepping up to help
- Grandchildren giving grandparents iPad tours of their home
- Parading for priests in the parking lot with firetruck and cars
- A school sweatshirt mailed in time for the Spirit Week video
- Making meals and sewing face masks
- More prayer and meditation time, a chance to go to Mass in Ireland
- Shut out of the beaches, discovering the cranberry bogs
|
|
Regional Councils Bring Wisdom, Direction, and Action to IVC
|
|
IVC New England Regional Council/January 2020
|
|
Each region of the Ignatian Volunteer Corps is assisted by an advisory Regional Council. The purpose of a Regional Council is to provide support and guidance to the Regional Director, particularly in the areas of promotion, relationship-building and fundraising. Regional Councils bring wisdom, direction and action to IVC.
Specific activities and tasks of a Regional Council might include: publicizing, generating interest in, and building a network of support for IVC; identifying potential volunteers and partner agencies; coordinating and executing aspects of fundraising and other events; and, identifying and engaging with current and potential donors.
New England is blessed with a Regional Council of sixteen women and men with varied and impressive backgrounds. IVC New England Regional Council members include lawyers, educators, administrators, current and former Ignatian Volunteers, and IVC partner agency heads. Many are or have been connected to key Ignatian constituencies including the Society of Jesus, Boston College, BC High, Holy Cross, BC School of Theology and Ministry, and the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.
In New England, our Regional Council plans and implements our annual Madonna Della Strada Ceremony and area friend-raisers, offers guidance and assistance in navigating IVC through challenging times programmatically and financially, gives perspective on strategic growth and planning, and identifies key potential allies for the building of our program in Boston, Worcester, Providence, and beyond.
Thank you, IVC New England Regional Council, for your dedicated and generous service to our volunteers and service partners and those we seek to assist.
|
|
IVC New England Regional Council/May, 2020
|
|
What I never expected when I joined IVC
|
|
Ron Nix at Cotting School
|
|
Ron Nix is in his fourth year with IVC, his third at
Cotting School
in Lexington (MA). Ron shares here his story about an unexpected gift through IVC:
The person who has most changed my life at Cotting School is JT. We first began working together three years ago, when I started at the school. JT is a lifer, so to speak. He was a student at the school. After going to college, he became a teacher at the school. He is retiring in June after 45 years on the job.
|
|
JT and I have rubbed off on each other. I have learned to look at things with more humor and lightheartedness, while still maintaining a sense of respect and responsibility for the job. I have found myself opening up more in our conversations and sharing things that I wouldn’t have expected.
He, on the other hand, has become a bit more serious - not enough to change his personality, but knowing that there is a time and place for serious discussions and a time when it's ok to joke and add humor.
Leading up to his retirement, he and I have had many great conversations on what comes next for him and how I am finding life after work. He joined the newly formed St Vincent de Paul conference at his Church as a result of conversations we had on how he could be more involved. I have also mentioned joining the IVC, but that will take a bit more time and conversation.
I never expected to find a close friend and confidant when I started volunteering at Cotting, but I have, and I believe that he and I will remain in touch as he moves on to his third chapter in life.
|
|
 |
IVC New England has a Facebook Page. Click on the headline above. If you have a Facebook account, type @IVCNewEngland in the search bar, then "like" us and "share" us with your friends. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
31 Fairview Street
Roslindale, MA 02131
617-571-3838
newengland@ivcusa.org
|
Resources for Earth Day, the Pandemic, and Beyond
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
