Every year, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) places more than 300 volunteers in 37 cities across the United States and six countries around the world. These volunteers are united by the common values of spirituality, simple living, community and social justice as they work to help local organizations better serve the poor and marginalized in their communities.
As part of a series of Google Hangouts On Air featuring service opportunities, NationSwell hosted a live video Q&A with JVC Director of Advancement Colleen Kennedy, current volunteer Conor Sullivan, and alumna Marisa Hernandez-Stern.
“A year of service as a rite of passage is that ability to kind of get to know yourself better as well and to bring that to the outside world,” Sullivan says of why more young people should consider national service. “You can’t help others until you know yourself.”
Sullivan, who called from the Minneapolis school where he is teaching physical education, also talks about the JVC’s weekly spirituality nights. “What that means is so open to interpretation, it’s amazing,” he says.
Hernandez-Stern, whose service with the Farmworker Division of Georgia Legal Services helped shape her path toward public interest law, talks about the value of “seeing God in other people” and “living in intentional community.”
Interested in learning more? Watch the video above, join the conversation with the #serviceyear hashtag and head to the Jesuit Volunteer Corps website. Then click the Take Action button to learn how you can join NationSwell and The Franklin Project to spread the word on service year opportunities.