![]() ![]() I give thanks for JVs who sit with and welcome the migrant, the tired, the poor, and the forgotten into their hearts and communities for young people like Kristen who join our family each year seeking and offering love in the midst of heartbreak and for this community which has welcomed me with open arms and hearts. In a year marked by tremendous pain, including refugees forgotten by the world, senseless killings of black men and women on the streets of our cities, and an ever more individualistic and disconnected world, I give thanks for the entire community of JVC a community which inspires so many. I have had the great fortune of listening to hundreds of current and former volunteers who have inspired me with their stories of transformation while offering vital service in communities across the globe. Her story was one of pain, challenge, tumult, and ultimately revival it was a story of brokenness, in ourselves and our institutions, and of a deep belief in the power of radical, unending love. I sat on the beach listening to this narrative, surrounded by dozens of other JVs, awe-struck with her reflection, authenticity, and abundant capacity for hope and grace. She shared how this exploration and questioning at the school where she served, with her community, and with the broader JVC community ultimately led her to a deeper connection to Jesus as a radical community builder. Louis, she spent much of her year in JVC questioning where and how she could be her fullest self, within and on the margins of our church. Kristen shared how, as a queer, black woman in a Catholic institution living and serving in St. Sitting on the beach of Lake Michigan this summer I listened to a JV recount her JVC story, just one story in the lexicon of thousands of JV stories woven together over the past six decades. As I review this past year, I recall personal moments of transformation and grace the face-to-face, heart-to-heart encounters with members of our community. Gratitude is a key theme in Ignatian spirituality and a central movement of the Examen prayer which we regularly share with JVs. from Pope Francis hundreds of s and well-wishes from FJVs a 10% increase in placed JVs weeks on college campuses meeting inspiring campus partners days and hours spent with our team in discussion and prayer on racial equity work the partnership with 229 nonprofit agencies, schools, and ministries where JVs served a board meeting at agency partner Homeboy Industries in LA over 3,900 individual financial donors and 100 FJVs and many Jesuits donating time as support people and mentors to our JVs in the field, and so much more. A year which included a visit to the U.S. ![]() At first glance these words do not seem like nearly enough to express my gratitude for the experience of the past year at JVC. 3 Dear Friends of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Thank you. ![]()
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