IVC Stories
I’m Blessed
This blog post by Peggy Scanlan Brown was originally published in the IVC Chicago Footprints Blog. Am I the only impatient volunteer in the bunch? I ask God for patience every day because I believe that I, and everyone I am working with, could do more to assist those...
A Mother and Daughter Who Inspire Each Other to Service
“My daughter Erin inspired me to get involved with what I’m doing now,” says Julie Bishop, an Ignatian Volunteer in San Diego. “When she started with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps after college, it was difficult for me to think of her living in the inner city...
Transformed by His Love: Jay’s Story
Jay Burke is a first-year Ignatian Volunteer who serves as Associate Coordinator for the Ignatian Spirituality Project in Boston. Before joining IVC, Jay had a 30-year career in marketing for community banks and then began a second career in bereavement counseling for...
Transformed by His Love: Jan’s Story
"Here I am in this middle-class, pretty affluent suburb. My problems have been what my children and I call 'first-world problems.' IVC put me into a different place, in community with women who I wouldn't have known otherwise. It has transformed my life. Even...
Volunteering at Catholic Distance University
Bob Thomsen, IVC volunteer from Northern Virginia, is currently assigned to Catholic Distance University (CDU) in Hamilton, Virginia. Bob has been with IVC for over 4 years and served at CDU since April 2013. CDU was founded in 1983 as the first catechetical...
Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary
Ignatian Volunteer Wanda Dean is in her fourth year serving with Catholic Charities in Richland County, Ohio. She spends most of her time there working in the food pantry—stocking shelves, initiating a food drive with 9 area high schools, and helping with food...
Love is Patient, Love is Kind
Julia and Tony Albrecht met in 1950 as students at Oberlin College in Ohio. They fell in love, and as Julia says, “although we were obviously too young to know what we were getting into, we made a life plan.” Julia packed her wedding dress and a going-away suit and...
Julia’s Story
Ignatian Volunteer Julia Albrecht is in her fourteenth year writing resumes for the unemployed and underemployed. She began at Jubilee Jobs, recognized as one of the best nonprofit organizations in DC, and has spent the last 7 years working with Catholic Charities’...
Tony’s Story
“The engagement with humanity is very powerful,” Tony Albrecht says. “My service is a gift.” Tony Albrecht has taught at the Spanish Catholic Center of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington for 10 years as an Ignatian Volunteer. He teaches basic...