Santa Clara University

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 21 -- Twenty-one alumni from Santa Clara University are serving in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, the largest Catholic lay volunteer program in the country. That's among the highest of any U.S. Jesuit university, according to some recent data.

SCU's volunteers --most of whom graduated last June -- join hundreds of others who have committed to spend a year or more serving people who are homeless, unemployed, refugees, afflicted with AIDS, elderly, street youth, abused women and children, mentally ill, or developmentally disabled.

Volunteers are placed through one of four regional offices of the national JVC, or through the separately operated JVC Northwest. Others are placed in overseas locations such as Belize, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nepal Nicaragua, Peru, and Tanzania through the Jesuit Volunteers International office.

SCU has the second-largest contingent --18--of alumni placed out of the national group of JVC offices. Another three alumni were placed out of JVC Northwest.

Jesuit Volunteer Corps, started in 1956, is based on four core values: social justice, simple living, community, and spirituality. Volunteers commit to serve where the need is greatest, to work with people who are marginalized by society, and to live in apostolic community with other JVs. In all, about 250 JVs each year work in the United States and abroad.

"Given that we also have graduates serving with other agencies such as Peace Corps and Teach for America, I think we may all be grateful that the culture of service and care for those most marginalized which we proclaim here at SCU truly penetrates the minds and hearts of so many of our students," wrote Father Jack Treacy, director of SCU's campus ministry, in a letter to Santa Clara's Jesuit Community.

Here is a list of SCU alumni serving in the JVC:
Victoria Agajanyan is serving with JVC Southwest at Loaves and Fishes (Mustard Seed School for Homeless Children).
Laura Brown is serving with JVC South at Respite Care of San Antonio.
Angela Bustos is serving with JVC Southwest at Central American Resource Center.
Lindsey Day is serving in JVC East.
Erica Eng is serving with JVC Southwest at the Chrysalis Center.
Sarah Erker is serving with JVC Southwest at Urban Compass.
Emily Fette is serving with JVC South at AIDS Foundation Houston.
Kendal Flatley is serving with JVC Northwest as Para-Educator for Paschal Sherman Indian School in Omak, Wash.
Rachel Franco is serving with JVC Midwest at Walker's Point Community Clinic.
Krista Frankovic is serving with JVC East at Cristo Rey N.Y.
Sarah Gehrki is serving with JVC East at Northside Catholic Youth Organization.
Brianna Hussey is serving with JVC Northwest at the Downtown Chapel in Portland, Ore.
Elizabeth Iten is serving with JVC East at La Clinca del Pueblo.
Peter Keating is serving with JVC South at Project Return.
Patrick Kelly is serving with JVC East at the New York State Tenants and Neighbors Coalition.
Jon Killoran is serving with JVC Northwest as Operations Supervisor at the House of Charity in Spokane, Wash.
Jenna Macho is serving with JVC East at St. Aloysius School.
Brad Mills will complete his service with JVI at Colegio de la Santa Cruz (Vinani) in Peru in December, 2008. He began in 2006.
Eryn Marie Reyes is serving with JVC Southwest at Catholic Charities of Phoenix.
Cristina Sanidad is serving with JVC Southwest at Interfaith Worker Justice of Arizona.
Margaret Van Dorn is serving with JVC Southwest at Loaves and Fishes Friendship Park.

Those interested in serving in JVC can find more information at http://www.jesuitvolunteers.org/ or through Campus Ministry

About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California's Silicon Valley, offers its 8,685 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master's universities, California's oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

Media Contact: Deepa Arora - 408-554-5125; darora@scu.edu