Santa Clara University

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 17, 2012  – Fifteen recent graduates of Santa Clara University  are working across the country and the world in year-long stints with Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) and Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest. 

As volunteers with the two Jesuit volunteer organizations, the graduates work with people who live on the margins of society, and have committed to living simply and working for social and ecological justice in a spiritually supportive community with other Jesuit volunteers. 

Volunteers from JVC and JVC Northwest work at schools, health clinics, legal clinics, parishes, and nonprofit organizations to provide essential services, saving the entities millions of dollars annually in salary expenses. They advocate for domestic violence survivors, help with nursing in community clinics, teach and tutor in schools with Native American children, assist in shelters, and engage in many more important works.

"We are proud and grateful that our graduates have taken to heart and continue to live out the spirit we strive to foster at SCU in a prophetic way,” said Jack Treacy, S.J., director of SCU Campus Ministry. “They are indeed offering their gifts and living in solidarity with those most in need in our own communities.”

The Santa Clara alumni, and where they will be spending the next year, are:

Bernice Aguas – Mobile Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Program; Mobile, AL
Megan Brunkhorst – St. Matthew Catholic School; Phoenix, AZ
Eunjey Cho, Catholic Charities Spokane, Spokane, WA
Jenny Jin – Messmer Catholic Schools; Milwaukee, WI
Paul Kosloski, Beans Café, Anchorage, AK
Cynthia Martinez – Colegio Pan y Amor; Managua, Nicaragua
Meghan McNamara- L'Arche Tahoma, Tacoma, WA
Melissa Minato, YMCA, Gray's Harbor, WA
Rachel O’Hanlon – St. Ignatius School; Brooklyn, NY
Morgen Oswood – Legal Aid of Western Missouri; Kansas City, MO
Caroline Read, Okanogan Behavioral HealthCare, Omak, WA
Jackelin Ruiz, Wallace Medical Concern, Portland, OR
Katie Strandberg, Western MT Mental Health Center, Missoula, MT
Jason Su, Heritage Living Center, Ashland, MT
Mark Vetto (2nd year of domestic service) – Mental Health Advocacy Project; San Jose, CA

There are 323 volunteers from the Jesuit Volunteer Corps living in 38 cities in the United States and six other countries across the globe. 

“Each year it is inspiring to welcome a new group of women and men, like the graduates of Santa Clara, who want to serve with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps,” said Kathleen Haser, acting president of JVC. “JVC is a transformative experience that prepares young men and women for a lifetime of putting faith into action. “

The JVC Northwest volunteers join 138 others in 21 locales around five states.

“JVs come to the Pacific Northwest with great enthusiasm, skills, and compassion to make a difference in the communities where they live and serve,” said Jeanne Haster, executive director for JVC Northwest. “In this exciting and challenging year of service, JVs are invited to participate in making the world a better place and to be open to the transformation in their own lives.”

About Jesuit Volunteer Corps
Composed of one international and four regional JVCs which merged in 2009, Baltimore, Md.-based Jesuit Volunteer Corps offers women and men an opportunity to work full-time for justice and peace. For decades, Jesuit Volunteer Corps has worked in collaboration with Jesuits, whose spirituality the volunteers incorporate in their work, community, and prayer life. More than 250 grassroots organizations across the world count on Jesuit Volunteers to provide essential services. JVC offers volunteers an experience that will open their minds and hearts to live always conscious of the poor and committed to the Church’s mission of promoting justice in the service of faith. Learn more at www.jesuitvolunteers.org or www.facebook.com/jesuitvolunteers.

About JVC Northwest
Established in 1956 in Copper Valley, Alaska, JVC Northwest is an independent, non-profit organization that recruits, places, and supports volunteers living in communities across the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.  For more information, visit www.jvcnorthwest.org, or http://jvcnorthwest.wordpress.com/

Media Contact
Deborah Lohse | SCU Media Relations | dlohse@scu.edu | 408-554-5121