By Deacon Tom Baker
Sr. Mary Helen Beirne, SSJ, came to IVC with a deep background in education as a teacher and administrator. She served in diocesan leadership roles in Trenton and Baltimore, as a school principal, and as a trainer of teachers for Philadelphia’s Independence Mission Schools. Yet when she approached IVC about volunteering, she was open to something entirely new. “To me, any good work was fine. Although it was important to me to be immersed in the city in some way.”
IVC connected her with Project Home, a Philadelphia nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness. Among its many services is a food pantry, located in a former rectory in North Philadelphia. “They were looking for a pantry operations assistant,” she reports, “but it turned out what they really needed was someone to collect and manage data.” The pantry has 500-600 visits a month from local residents who need food; Sr. Mary Helen’s role is to meet with them to make sure Project Home has records of each family’s needs and challenges. “You don’t have to prove you’re poor,” she notes, but the database helps Project Home’s food donors and other supporters understand the impact of the pantry’s work. “This neighborhood has the highest density of food need in the city,” she says. Her schedule at the pantry is 10 AM to 3 PM four days a week, and if time permits she’ll pitch in wherever help is needed, from bagging food to helping lead an in-service day for the staff.
How does being a part of IVC enrich her volunteer experience? “What I wanted was not to be out on my own. I wanted to continue to grow. The caliber of wisdom and experience in the other IVC volunteers is exceptional. There is a passion about doing God’s work. And right now, with our country in the shape it’s in, this is where we need to be, in relationship with other people who share a vision, working together.” In addition, she says, “I always wanted to be a Jesuit! So this, in a way, connects me with a spirituality I was always drawn to.” To anyone thinking of volunteering, she says: “Be discerning. Welcome any opportunity to be stretched. That’s from God.”
