Jesuit Volunteer Corps. Press Release:
Portland, Ore. — University of Portland alumna has recently embarked on a year of full-time service with Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) Northwest:
· Hannah Hoffarth, Family Support Network, Billings, Mont.
A total of 148 Jesuit Volunteer (JV) /AmeriCorps members* – 24 returning for a second year, and two returning for a third year – have joined JVC Northwest this year. They are serving in 21 locales throughout the five states of the Northwest, living in 24 JV communities. JVC Northwest is excited to announce that its AmeriCorps funding through the Corporation for National and Community Service has been renewed for an additional three years, allowing 135 of our current Jesuit Volunteers to also be AmeriCorps members, serving in communities with the greatest need.
“JV/AmeriCorps members come to the year with the hope of making a difference in the lives of those they serve, and in the ecosystems in which they live. They will offer over 280,000 hours of service this year and touch the lives of thousands. JVs often don’t realize how significantly they themselves will be transformed throughout the process,” says Jeanne Haster, Executive Director for JVC Northwest.
This year, JV/AmeriCorps members will serve in 107 partner agencies across the region in many areas, involved in critical social services advocating for domestic violence survivors, nursing in community clinics, teaching and tutoring in schools with Native American children, assisting in shelters, working for food justice issues, and many more important works. Throughout their year of service, JV/AmeriCorps members focus on four core values–social and ecological justice, simple living, spirituality, and community.
There are two Jesuit Volunteer organizations in the United States, JVC Northwest and JVC. JV/AmeriCorps members serve in a variety of urban and rural locations and are challenged to live simply and work for social and ecological justice in a spiritually supportive environment.
Established in 1956, JVC Northwest is an independent, non-profit organization that recruits, places, and supports volunteers living in communities across the Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.
For more information, visit www.jvcnorthwest.org.
* “JV/AmeriCorps members” is a general term referring to all Jesuit Volunteers, both our JV AmeriCorps members and our JV non-AmeriCorps members who are providing advocacy and ministry services.