Sure, I had a great job using my talents and skills. Sure, I was a member of a terrific parish community,making new friends, growing in my faith, and yet, something was missing. At a faith-sharing group onenight, I simply admitted I truly felt nothing, that I couldn’t discern God’s presence. And a wise friendreplied, well, get […]
Category: SERVICE STORIES
Service Shapes Futures: A Year That Shaped Everything
By Victor Jose Jaimes, Jesuit Volunteer Corps Alum Many of my college friends entered Catholic volunteer programs after graduation. As a Lasallian university grad, most of them joined the Lasallian Volunteers — but I yearned for something bigger. I decided to join the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and journey to Philadelphia. What drew me there was […]
Service Shapes Futures: A Yes That Became a Way of Life
Ignatian spirituality has quietly shaped the way I see and move through the world. From an early age, I learned that faith is not something to hold but something to live—faith as action, as presence, as service. Over time, I discovered that this action springs from a deeper movement: to praise, reverence, and serve God […]
Food is My Love Language: Finding Connection & Growth at a Refugee Food Pantry
¡Hola! Salaam! Bonjour, namaste! These are words I get to use every day—with a smile and perhaps a slight bow, a handshake, or a hand over the heart—as I welcome clients into the multicultural food pantry at Nationalities Service Center (NSC).My service site is a refugee resettlement agency in the bustling center of Philadelphia. Each […]
Where Love Becomes Presence
I volunteered at Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas, from 2002-2003. It was an extraordinary year of accompaniment with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, one that remains deeply etched in my heart. As a Puerto Rican and Cuban woman, it was especially meaningful to accompany people whose language, culture, and stories resonated so closely with […]