Full–time volunteers serve Florida
ED FOSTER JR. | FC FILE 2001 ORLANDO | Danice Crawford calls it her “moment of truth.” She stood in the New York City subway on her way to serve as a volunteer translator for the United Nations, watching torrential rain flood the station. “I was watching water flow around a circuit breaker,” she recalled. “I said, ‘If this goes down, I have no idea what to do or how to help people.’” She went to find out. Now, just over one year later, Crawford is finishing up her volunteer year with the Catholic Volunteers in Florida as the first emergency response coordinator for Catholic Charities of Central Florida. The Florida-based service organization, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, is like a “Catholic Peace Corps,” according to the organization's second executive director (2000–2008) Richard Galentino, asking Catholic young adults to devote one year of their lives to serving others, growing in faith and working for justice. The organization was founded in 1983 by Augustinian Father Patrick O’Neill, then the president of St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens. During his tenure there, Father O’Neill often recommended the international Peace Corps to service-minded Catholic college students. Seeing a growing need to serve those in poverty closer to home, he envisioned the volunteer year as a model that could help assuage those needs and encourage young adults to grow in faith. 
Jacques Brund | Courtesy of Catholic Volunteers In Florida “I founded the Catholic Volunteers to serve people in need, the poor, the sick, the elderly, the exceptional child, the food banks, the migrant workers – all in the spirit of Catholic community service, always to be serving others, wherever their needs are,” he said. Father O’Neill is now the director of the Miami archdiocesan Office of Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations. Today, 12 to 21 volunteers make the commitment each year to work full time in Catholic Charities outlets, inner-city Catholic schools, health clinics, youth shelters and family-service organizations across the state of Florida. In their personal lives, participants concentrate on active spirituality, justice, community, simple living and putting the Gospel into practice in daily life. “You name it, we’re involved in it,” said Galentino, an alumnus of the Jesuit Volunteers, a similar program run by the Society of Jesus. Catholic Volunteers in Florida are often young people who “feel a need, a call, to give back to other people. People who are coming from a faith background, particularly if they’re Catholic, are looking for a particularly Catholic service opportunity. In Florida, we’re one of those,” Galentino explained. Some are adults taking a sabbatical year or early retirees looking to give back to their communities. Some volunteers already had service experience through confirmation retreats or campus ministry, while some use the experience to take ownership of their faith after a time away. According to Sister Florence Bryan, former general superior of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the province of St. Augustine and current Catholic Volunteers site placement director, volunteers are placed throughout Florida in positions that best line up with their skills, goals and college degree. Program participants receive housing, health insurance, a living stipend of $450 per month and an Americorps educational award upon completion of their commitment. They attend a weeklong orientation and 20 days per year of regular retreats held across the state. At the retreats, volunteers pray, share their experiences and listen to speakers who talk about social ministry and justice issues. The organization also pays for a spiritual director for volunteers who wish to work with one during their year, and puts them in touch with area alumni for added support. In 2005, the program partnered with Florida’s bishops to release a statement that challenged young adults to consider a post-college year of service as part of their growth in the Catholic faith. “Through a year of service and faith formation you will live the Gospel, serve others and build your relationship with God. Following the call to prayer and service is following the life and message of Jesus Christ and promises to be a rewarding way to begin your adult life,” the statement read. 
KAREN OSBORNE | FC That philosophy attracted Jamila Ivy, a 24-year-old Methodist from Pittsburgh. While she wanted to attend medical school and work in osteopathic medicine, she didn’t want to commit to another eight to 10 years of school right after her 2006 graduation from Pennsylvania State University. “I wanted to do something meaningful. I’d been thinking and praying on it for a while. And the more I thought about it, the more (volunteering) became my No. 1,” she said. Catholic Volunteers in Florida matched the medically minded Ivy with jobs that echoed her biology major and her experience working as an intern with a pediatric surgeon: as a community assistant with the Sarasota City Health Program, and as a patient service “It was a faith-based program and I wanted to be around people who understood that aspect of my life,” she said. “They had a list of tenets and beliefs that I really liked: living simply, social justice.” Ivy said the experience “has definitely made my spirituality grow. Being with people from different backgrounds is pretty cool on its own. I want to be a good witness and take an active role in my faith.” Crawford’s task this year was to lay the groundwork for Catholic Charities of Central Florida’s developing disaster-relief program. “Since Sept. 11 and Katrina, the field has been evolving. … We’ve been learning more of the full cycle, developing what we have to offer and articulating our role,” she said, especially within disaster preparation outreach and first-response activities in farmworker communities. “When I came down here, I was spiritually dry,” she said. “I really knew that I was ready for the next phase, but needed support, and I had so many questions about faith and where other people my age were at.” She also wanted to see firsthand how faith-based organizations worked within the emergency response framework. Crawford intends to continue working in the field of emergency management and perhaps “move into conflict resolution,” she said. Some volunteers turn their post-college call into a lifelong vocation. Michael Sheedy, associate director for health care policy for the Florida Catholic Conference in Tallahassee, completed his year of service in 1993 and credits his volunteer experience as crucial in shaping his current worldview. After college, Sheedy worked in the field of information technology, but “felt a call to a different kind of service,” he explained. “A lot of growth happened when I got out of college,” he said. With the Catholic Volunteers, “I got a good sense, very practically, for how the church interacts with the world for the common good, and my first real exposure to Catholic social teaching.” After his volunteer year, Sheedy studied theology, worked in Catholic health care administration and eventually was hired by the Catholic Conference. “At the time, you look back over your shoulder and you can see providence at work. I’m glad to be involved, that’s for sure,” he said. Sheedy’s story isn’t rare, according to Galentino. “I think the fact that most of our volunteers are offered employment at the end of our year of service says that we make good matches. Just witnessing the growth of volunteers and seeing them several years later as alumni in organizations where they served” is a testament, he said, to “the extraordinary impact volunteers can have in a cost-effective way.” Sister Bryan agreed. “I hope it gets to the point where (volunteering) is not a rare thing to do, but a natural consequence of who they are, of living their faith and understanding that service is a part of faith.” For his part, Father O’Neill continues his involvement with the organization to this day, attending retreats and orientations. “We re-gather the group and tell the stories about what we are seeing and hearing. It was about how our own lives would be transformed,” he said. “I hope the tradition will continue.” FROM VOLUNTEER TO FULL-TIME MINISTRYMany of the hundreds of former Catholic Volunteers now work as professionals in the fields or organizations in which they volunteered. Many of them gathered for a reunion in celebration of the organization’s 25th anniversary June 21 at San Pedro Center in Winter Park. Here’s a sampling of alumni who made a career out of their service year: James Kwasneski, ’05-’06, is an outreach and research assistant for the Florida Catholic Conference in Tallahassee. Amber Rodman, ’05-’06, is a case manager at Lutheran Services Florida and helps homeless families find transitional housing. Michael Sheedy, ’92-’93, is an associate director with the Florida Catholic Conference, focusing on health care policy. Amy Schultz, ’99-’00, is the executive director of L’Arche Harbor House in Jacksonville. Johnny Zokovich, ’91-’92, founded Gainesville Catholic Worker House in 2000 and is the communications director for Pax Christi USA. Janie Redd, ’04-’05, is a case manager at Jewish Family and Communications Services, and will make a mission trip to Costa Rica this summer. Kristi Neumeyer Jenkins, ’01-’02, is the faith formation director at St. Cecelia Parish in Fort Myers.
|
Advertisement
|
| Archdiocese of Miami | Diocese of Orlando | Diocese of Palm Beach | Diocese of Pensacola - Tallahassee | Diocese of Venice | |