IVC Stories
IVC Philadelphia/South Jersey Member Profile: Tom Volkert, NETWORK
Many IVC volunteers want to work with organizations that provide direct service to individuals, but for others, their IVC commitment is a chance to be part of an effort to change the system itself. Tom Volkert, for example, moved from a volunteer hospital ministry to...
IVC Denver Service Profile: Ann and the SAME Café
One of the founding IVC Denver service corps members, Ann has served as Development and Internship Coordinator at So All May Eat / SAME Cafe for the past four years. Beginning her service in the SAME Cafe, Ann experienced how this innovative participation-based...
IVC Denver Member Profile: Molly Smolen
St. Rose of Lima Catholic Academy’s vision is for all of our students to go to college and get to heaven. This small poster greets everyone who enters St. Rose of Lima Catholic Academy. St. Rose is a pre-K through eighth-grade school serving 26 zip codes throughout...
IVC Members Provide “Invaluable” Support at Our Lady’s School
Stepping onto the campus at Our Lady's School (OLS), you can't help but feel that the school's tradition of nurturing the spiritual, academic, social, and cultural growth of its students is alive and well. As San Diego's oldest Catholic elementary school, OLS traces...
IVC New Orleans Member Profile: Jerry Alexander
In his “Richness of Many Years of Life” address, Pope Francis declared that “Old age is not a disease; it is a privilege.” Jerry Alexander, IVC New Orleans volunteer, embodies that statement. When he told his regional director in spring of 2022 that he was diagnosed...
IVC National Capital Area Member Profile: Rose McGruddy, Just Neighbors
Just Neighbors, an IVC partner agency, provides high-quality immigration legal services to low-income immigrants, asylees and refugees in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. IVC’s Rose McGruddy offers ESOL and Spanish translation services for clients at Just...
A Contemplation on Spiritual Surrender
Central to living a rich spiritual life with God is developing an intimate personal relationship with him. This requires that we accept that we have been created in God’s love, that we are totally dependent on that love for our very existence, that he has a plan and...
Merton and Me—A Living Trinity
“I would have to guess that for most people their first encounter with Thomas Merton is rarely their last encounter with Thomas Merton. Once he takes an interest in you he seems rather unwilling to let go. And if and when you try to escape, it seems that he will...
In Memoriam – Jim Kelley
Jim Kelley, who served IVC for over twenty years as a service corps member, regional director and regional council member, and who oversaw the expansion of IVC into Northern Virginia, died November 1 in Fairfax, Va. He was 86.