Holiday Blessings

One year ago I was starting off my Christmas Break in Portland, Oregon. I had just made it home in time to miss a huge arctic blast that prevented many home-bound college students to making it home earlier than anticipated for the holidays. My dad and I were bored at home and unable to drive anywhere, so we took a walk in the snow up to a neighborhood bar about a mile away from our house. We were catching up over some beers and my dad was talking about how excited he was to see where my life was going to take me in the next year. At the time I was concentrated on starting my career right out of college. I couldn't wait the adventure to begin.

Both of my parents are former Jesuit Volunteers and were placed in the same community in a small village in Alaska. I had always been aware of the program but I wasn't sure if it were my calling or not. My college friend Jack was in the process of applying for the JVC. I was excited to hear about him applying; excited enough that I ended up starting the application myself. It felt like the right decision. When I got my placement and committed, it felt even better.

Now here I am, working as a high school program instructor at For Love of Children, helping inner city students reach their full potential in their education. I am amazed at the generosity of the staff who work here and the generous donors that allow us to keep our mission going.

I'm very grateful for the company of my fellow Jesuit Volunteers and the strong community that I live in. We've experienced many memorable moments, from orientation at Blue Ridge; to a wacky 10 hour Halloween party in Newark; Cheese Steaks and the Christmas Party in Philadelphia; meeting vice president Joe Biden, rodent sightings in our house; late night talks, delicious meals, birthday celebrations and lots of laughs.

I look forward to many more great memories in the new year. I return home for the holidays this Friday. Merry Christmas.

The vice president, news anchor contribute to the JVC

The Jesuit Volunteer Corps held a fundraiser Wednesday evening at St. Francis Hall in Washington, DC.

The JV's were invited to represent their placements. The invitation included the special guest, Chris Matthews of MSNBC's Hardball, who was invited to deliver a talk on service. Chris served in the PeaceCorps before entering his career in politics and news. Chris' wife, Kathleen, is a former news anchor and now executive at Marriott was also attending.

The evening was getting started as expected. As we were getting instructions on how to volunteer at the event, JVC's development manager announces to us that Vice President Joe Biden would be making an appearance. Biden entered the room with grace, shaking everyone's hand, smiling and speaking with everyone that approached him. He was gracious to the JV's and our support people. He spoke on stage with his son, Hunter, who served in JVC Northwest in my hometown, Portland, Ore.

It was quite a thrill that evening. The JV's and I will be recalling that evening for a long time.

A Nor'easter Storm?

"A Nor'easter storm? What's that?" Asked my community member Andrew last night at dinner. He and I are the only two community members in our house from the west coast. He had heard the term a 'nor'easter storm' on the news yesterday. Our Scranton, Penn. native housemate Lauren informed us that it means a large storm of winds coming from the North and heading down the Atlantic.

A storm is heading south, and it's a wet and windy morning in our nations capital. I try to ride my bike to work at least four times a week and because of the Oregon-like weather, this morning was one of the more difficult ones I've had since living here. It's about 1.5 miles from our JVC community house to my work, so a 10-minute ride or a 25 minute walk. DC is an easy place to commute by bike. I'll admit the first time I started riding in traffic I was a little scared, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. It's good exercise, allows one to get somewhere relatively quickly, and saves time and money from taking the Metro or a bus.

Last weekend my sister Maggie, who lives in Portland, made a visit to Washington, DC. It was a mini college reunion for her, she was meeting up with two of her friends in DC and also spending time with our brother Brian and I. We had lot's of fun together, including a wonderful Sunday night dinner with my JVC community. On Monday I showed Maggie my placement and we had breakfast in Adams Morgan. After I got off work we met up for dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant. (If you have not had Ethiopian food I highly recommend it).

It's fun living and working in such a fun city that people love to visit. I can't believe that we are nearing mid-November. Thanksgiving is just two weeks away!

Visit to the Big Apple

There are a lot of great things about being a Jesuit Volunteer. But the one that stands out the most to me is the rich community I became apart our orientation in August. This weekend I traveled to New York City and visited the communities in Brooklyn and West Harlem. Friday morning I departed from Washington DC on the Megabus and around noon arrived in mid-town Manhattan. I'm familiar with the area from when I participated in an internship there during the summer of 2008.

My friend Delphine, a JV in Brooklyn, met me in Manhattan where we spent the afternoon. I took the opportunity to re-visit the staff I interned for at Fox News Channel. I interned for the business news program, "Your World w/ Neil Cavuto." I had such a positive experience interning for that staff I could not wait to return and visit with them. It was fun to return to the energy of a busy newsroom and see many of my mentors. I speak often of my experience in NY and of my internship and when we were leaving the News Corp building, Delphine said , "Now I know why you speak of this place so often." I loved my experience in television news, and after my year of serving in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps I plan on returning in either the capacity of either producing or reporting, or both.

Reconnecting with the Brookyln and Harlem JV's was a blast. Friday evening we went out to a fun bar in Williamsburg, Brookyln. We finished the evening eating some delicious gyros bought streetside. The next day we were tourists and walked through Central Park and Greenwich Village. In the pouring rain we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and made plans to meet up that evening with Jesuit Volunteers visiting the city from Newark. It was a whirlwind of a weekend and Sunday afternoon I returned to my community in Washington. Last night our community had two of our JV support people and Jesuit liason over for an incredible dinner prepared by our Italian cuisine queen Laura.

The start to a new week begins today - countdown to Halloween: 5 days!

Friends, Ben's Chili, Family, Rally

Last week was busy at Ramos House (my JV community house). Our program coordinator from the Jesuit Volunteer Corps spent the week living in our community. It gives her the opportunity to observe our daily interaction, eat meals with us, participate in spirituality night, visit our placements, and give us feedback on our community life.

The week was also busy for me with many visitors from out of town. My friend Blake came into Washington DC to spend the week with me and my brother Brian. Thursday my older brother Tommy arrived from Portland. He lived here for five years when we was attending Georgetown, so he enjoyed the weekend seeing Brian and I and several of his college friends who still live in the area. Friday my friends Delphine and Nick arrived who are serving the year as JV's in Brooklyn and Harlem. That Friday afternoon I played the role of tour guide. In the evening we went up to Georgetown to celebrate Brian's birthday.

On Saturday the JV's and my friends from out of town were fortunate enough to get a special tour of the Capitol. It was an amazing site, and in the near future I hope to sit in a session in progress. After the tour we made our way to Ben's Chili Bowl. This restaurant is just a couple of miles away from our house and is famous for being the only restaurant on it's street to survive and stay open during the 1968 race riots following the assasination of Martin Luther King. The walls are covered by many famous people who have visited the restaurant, including Hillary Clinton, Bill Cosby, and President Obama. The founder of the restaurant, Ben Ali, died less than a week ago.

On Sunday my housemates and I attended the annual Equality March and Rally infront of the Capitol where over 100,000 people marched for equal marriage and military rights. That day Blake, Delphine, Nick, and Tommy left town. It was a perfect weekend and I'm very grateful for their visits to Washington. My Jesuit Community and I always enjoy having guests and love to cook, so if you're ever in Washington don't hesitate to call on us.

Continually Grateful

Last weekend the southern-half of the communities in JVC East gathered for our October weekend retreat. Communities from Raleigh, Washington DC, Baltimore, Camden, Newark, and Philadelphia met in Upper Marlboro, Maryland (about 45 minutes from Washington) to spend four days together getting reacquainted on the mission of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. It was time for our community to reflect and check on how the past several weeks have progressed. We also broke into our Apostolate groups where we had discussions with other JV's who are working in similar placements. The weekend was very relaxing and offered some much needed time to revisit my personal mission of why I am a Jesuit Volunteer.

This week our program coordinator from the JVC is spending the week with us to observe our placements and community life. My college and hometown friend Blake is visiting Washington this week on his fall break; also coming this weekend are my brother Tommy and two friends from New York. It's going to be an active week and I am continually grateful for my experience in Washington as a Jesuit Volunteer.

Weekend Away

This week concludes my second week of teaching evening courses for FLOC's educational guidance and advocacy program. I'm still learning the students names, getting used to preparing curriculum, and getting comfortable approaching the students. The week's sophomore workshop was based on creating career goals, and how much higher education influences our ability to reach them. Our junior class has been taking practice ACT and SAT exams. Our program requires the junior students to take at least two practice exams of each. We also offer up to two vouchers to students who financially would not otherwise be able to register for the exams.

Last week I went to a local high school in Washington to present some recruitment materials on our programs. The school was like something I have never seen before, with metal detectors at the doors and a place to X-ray peoples belonging as if I were getting inspected by the TSA. But if that's what it takes to keep the students safe, then I guess it is necessary.

Last weekend my little brother Brian rode a bike down to my neighborhood and we watched the Notre Dame-Michigan State game at a friends house. Happy to report the Irish beat Michigan State 33-30. The first win again Michigan State at Notre Dame stadium since 1993. That night Brian had dinner with my community, and we went out in Georgetown. It was an active weekend, and unfortunately ended with my community member Rachel being take into the hospital. She was experiencing some chest pains due to a collapsed lung. We're happy to report that her procedure was successful and she came home on Wednesday.

This weekend I am traveling with my placement to West Virginia, where we are taking our senior class on retreat to some property that FLOC owns. I'm looking forward to this opportunitiy to see some new territory, meet some new students, and relax out of the city for a couple of days.