After writing a blog post featuring clarity as a major theme, I realized I should probably provide you with a basic overview of my JVC Saint Louis world.
I live in a house with seven other people (2 guys 6 girls) referred to in JVC lore as the “Mansion of the Midwest” or the “Wise Mansion”. It is a huge house near Barnes Jewish Hospital, and Forest Park is practically my back yard. Our house has 20+ rooms in it which means that everyone has their own bedroom (the first time I have ever had that when living in the United States other than at home), I believe four bathrooms, 2 floors, a basement, a dining room, kitchenette/breakfast nook, 2 living rooms, a craft room, a mancave (the two guys created this to use as a potentially needed refuge for living with six girls), a chapel (this is a Jesuit house after all), and a backyard (with a garden that was essentially killed but we are committed to reviving). We also have one true community car. The house was fully furnished when we got there and has been a JVC house for a number of years, which means that it has accumulated a lot of things that we would ever need or want and we are still and finding new things that we have at our house.
Sounds great so far doesn’t it? Ok here is the challenge. By being a Jesuit Volunteer for a year that means we are committed to living the four Jesuit values of spirituality, community, simple living, and social justice.
Spirituality basically means we are going to attempt to have a spirituality night once a week (which can be religious based or personal enrichment or whatever). The goal is for everyone to gain a deeper understanding of themselves and to figure out what really drives each individual person.
I’m going to address community living and simple living together. In addition to a spirituality night we have a community night once a week that serves as a time to grow and build the community together. A myriad of activities can be done for this. In addition to community night we also are committed to essentially living life equally, thus meaning that we do things like share all of our food in our house. This brings me to simple living. By being a Jesuit Volunteer, we committed to only accepting a personal stipend of $100 dollars a month. This money is used as our personal money for whatever we want. This does not include food. As a household, we have a combined budget of $720 dollars a month for food for 8 people. So this sounds difficult at this point now doesn’t it? We have a little bit of help. We don’t have rent to pay and JVC estimates and provides us with money to pay utilities, gas for the community car, car payments, and even some money to fix up the house. In addition to this all of our different agencies where we work are supposed to provide us with the fare for our commute to and from work.
That brings me to Social Justice: Everyone has different organizations they work for. I am working for the YMCA in Cahokia, Illinois. When I started I was going to be working on an after school program at Cahokia High School, that includes time for the students to get their homework done, and have access to a tutor if they need it, a session everyday on enrichment (when I saw it the other day students in teams had to design a new advertising logo for a designated business), and a session on recreation. I still we be involved in the program in some capacity, but my work is in the process of changing. Last week I designed the curriculum for two recreational programs in which grade school students come to the YMCA to participate in physical education sessions (basically like designing PE units for an entire year.) I am going to be doing more work such as this and helping to design other recreational programs as well as enrichment programs, and will be involved in other numerous outreach programs that our YMCA is involved with from Christian outreach (the “C” in YMCA) to mentoring programs for school kids. I must say that under first impression I am really impressed with our YMCA and how involved it is in the community. It runs after school programs, programs for elderly people, families, and much more and goes way beyond my previous perceptions of YMCAs as basically “swim and gyms”. My coworkers are amazing, genuine, and really seem like they care, and I am sure I will write more about them and this YMCA throughout the year.
So, who is up to this challenge with me? Seven other people live in my house with me and I have no doubt that they will equally challenge and support each other throughout the year.
Ariana is from Tempe, Arizona, went to Arizona State University, and is mainly working on a program that uses urban farming as a rehabilitation mechanism. She brings to the house a passion for activism, namely social justice and accountability and the environment that rivals, if not surpasses anybody that I met at American University (the most politically active campus in the country 3 of the last 4 years).
Chino is from Vancouver, British Columbia and went to Gonzaga University. He is a PE teacher at a catholic grade school. As the other guy and half of “Team Ryno” (take half of both of our names and put them together) he enables us both to be guys, talk about sports, have man-dates, and is just a lot of fun to hang out with. He also is a phenomenal cook.
Dayna is from Wheaton, Illinois and went to Wheaton College. She is spending this year working with adults with developmental disabilities. She is probably the funniest person in the house and is great at telling stories. She also will be the driving force behind our highly anticipated “Wire Nights” as well as our Infinite Jest book club.
Gabby is from San Diego, California and went to Santa Clara University. She is working on St. Louis University church’s homeless and unemployed outreach program. She is probably the most extroverted person in our house who always seems happy and is always smiling, and she projects that personality onto everyone in the house.
Jamie is a St. Louis native who went to Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. She is helping to run two different parish initiatives that include a bakery to provide an outlet for youth in the neighborhood, and a Habitat for Humanity type program that I look forward to volunteering with. It is great having her around because she knows the city and can recommend different things to do and places to go, and also will be good to help keep things organized and on track with our house.
Mary is from Kansas and went to Kansas University. She is spending her year as a teacher at a Catholic all-girls middle school. She brings a thoughtful, reflective personality to our house that seems like it airs towards scholarly. I look forward to having some lively discussions with her this year and will most likely learn lots from her.
Last but not least is Millie. She is from Spokane, Washington and went to Gonzaga, University. She is the only other person working on the Illinois side of the river and is teaching at an alternative high school in East St. Louis. She has a wholesome personality who really cares about social justice work and shares a passion for getting involved with causes and volunteer work and is very dedicated.
In addition to my housemates we also have two dedicated former Jesuit Volunteers who are our support people to function as sort of our other JVC family. They will be there throughout the year to give us support and encouragement, provide advice and encouragement, as well as keep us abreast of and show us cool things to do in the city. We also will be in contact with a designated Jesuit to keep us in the loop of spiritual activities and what’s going on with that element in the city. The city also offers whole networks of other volunteer groups that I look forward to connecting with, as well as a rich group of former Jesuit Volunteers that drop by.
All in all, I think it will be a challenging year but easily manageable. Thank you for coming along for the ride.
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