This Year

I'm writing this from a hotel in Baltimore, Maryland, as I get ready to head to rural southern Pennsylvania for the week. I will be attending the orientation for the eastern region of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps until next Tuesday when I head to Camden, New Jersey, which will be my home for the next year. It's taken me a long time to get to this point, as you may know, but here I am! I didn't know until 2 1/2 weeks ago exactly where I was going to be working and living this year.

So why JVC? The four values that JVC operates under are Social Justice, Simple Living, Spirituality, and Community, which are all things that resonate deeply with my own values and where I am in my life right now. I will be living in a house with five other volunteers and we will share all income and expenses except for our $80/month personal stipend. There will be three retreats during the year to reflect on our work, our lives, and our faith. Our work is with justice-oriented social service organizations, and we will be challenged to think about the deeper roots of structural and systemic change beyond the charitable service.

I personally will be working with an after-school educational program at Ethel Lawrence Homes, a low-income housing development outside of Camden. I can tell you a whole lot more about it once I actually get there and start working... For those of you that don't know, Camden is right across the river from Philadelphia. It will be exciting to be living so close to a big city (practically in it) for the first time in my life. Camden itself is a city of about 80,000 people, mainly African-American and Hispanic, and an extremely high percentage of its residents live below the poverty line.
I don't know how regular my internet access will be (maybe a few times a week?), but I will try to update my blog every so often