Catholic Volunteer Network (CVN) is excited to announce that Tina M. Cisarik has joined the CVN team as the new Development Manager. Please join us in welcoming Tina!

What is your role at CVN and what are you most looking forward to in this new position?
I’m joining CVN as the Development Manager. Through this role, I’m excited to harness the power of genuine and humble relationship building with members, foundations, partners, donors, and program alumni to cultivate a sustainable future at CVN. I cannot wait to get to know the many incredible people that are helping us carry CVN into the next decade and beyond!

Where’s home?
Chicago, IL

Where did you go to school and what did you study?

• Dominican University; River Forest, IL; B.A. in Graphic Design
• Loyola University Chicago; Chicago, IL; M.A. in Pastoral Studies; Focus Area: Outreach and Inclusion

Where did you serve as a volunteer and what was your ministry?
Following my undergraduate degree, I volunteered with Dominican Volunteers USA in Bronx, NY at Siena House Transitional Shelter, a home for those who are pregnant and women with a child under the age of three. While there, I supported the daily needs of dozens residents and children, facilitated programs and workshops, developed marketing and fundraising resources, and enjoyed a cuddle or two.

What motivates you?
I am motivated by the wisdom of my elders (especially my parents), and the energy of the young people and children who surround me. I’m also deeply motivated by every resilient plant I have somehow kept alive, despite less than ideal conditions.

Imagine you are stuck in an elevator. Who would you most like to be stuck with? Why?
As a total chatterbox, I would appreciate being stuck with someone keen on keeping the conversation going until the repair team shows up. I could see myself passing the time chatting with Ina Garten about baked goods and roast chicken, or Audre Lorde about poetry and romance, or my three-year-old neighbor on the adventures of day care.

Share an interesting fact about you.
Inspired by my service at Siena House as a full-time volunteer, I’m a training full-spectrum doula with Birthing Advocacy Doula Training. Once certified, I’m excited to offer compassionate and inclusive support to pregnant and postpartum parents in need of advocacy and resources. It is really special for me to honor the wisdom and skills I gained from my service year in this way, and to practice my faith through caregiving to others in my spare time.

Favorite quote:

“You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it love.”

– From Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese”

What book should everyone read? Why?
19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East by Naomi Shihab Nye.

Within this collection, Palestinian-American poet Shihab Nye strings together strikingly unique yet universal narratives and images of family, identity, hospitality, isolation, loss, and more. Her words have invited me to explore the world not only through her eyes, but my own.

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