BVMs Margaret Haas, Peggy Nolan, Patricia Kerz and Nancy McCarthy. Since then, Irene Lukefahr, BVM has hosted two volunteers in San Jose, Calif. at the St. Vincent de Paul Society Center where she works. Several other BVMs hope to receive volunteers in the future. The BVMs joined the project in 1998.
Volunteers work in settings with sisters and associates serving the poor and marginalized.
Community living, faith sharing and prayer enrich these experiences. The volunteers, women and men at least 21 years old, can commit themselves for short or long periods of service. Midwest Gretchen Johnson arrived in Chicago from New Mexico just in time for the blizzard of '99, so her first ministry was snow removal. Gretchen also managed time to unload food and stack shelves, paint, repair the roof, upholster and install railings on two stairways in the BVM house. She participated in Chicago-area BVM gatherings, and in the weekly prayer group based at Holy Family Ministry Site.