Jesuit Volunteer Corps: helpful people, to the corps

By LAURA AGUILERA-FLEMMING
UNLEASHED STAFF
Amy Nicola was a Regis University student who wanted to do something different. She wanted to step outside her regular life and see how others lived.
Through her school and professors who made it sound appealing, the 22-year-old learned about the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.
Now she lives with six other young women who have come together to live out the four values of JVC: simplicity, spirituality, social justice and community.
Each one receives about $70 a month for food and volunteers for community services. Once a week, the group has a spirituality night and a community meeting with everyone living in the house. Each volunteer serves at least one year and can add additional years.
“I’ve learned that a lot of people struggle much more than I do, and they’ve made my problems seem small,” says 24-year-old Laura Molina, one of the Yakima volunteers. “JVC has given me a new outlook on life.”
The JVC motto is “Ruined for Life.”
Nicola explains JVC “changes your way of thinking and teaches you how to live simply.”
Rosemary Rief, 69, who works as the communications coordinator at Northwest Harvest and part-time instructor at Yakima Valley Community College, has been involved with the JVC in Yakima for 15 years.
Each year, when new volunteers arrive in Yakima, Rief and her husband, Cy, give them a tour of Yakima, plan monthly potlucks and introduce them to people in the community.
“Over the years I’ve made some wonderful friendships,” she said. “I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the JV members.”
According to Rief, being a support person for the JVC has put purpose into her life.
“It feels so good to be a part of a group that helps the needy,” she says.
Patty Houts-Hussey, a 57-year-old social services worker for nonprofit organizations on Whidbey Island, was a JVC member in Cornelius, Ore., from 1973 to 1974. Ten years later, she worked with JVC area director Matt Fairbank to bring the first four volunteers to Yakima.
“Being a volunteer really expanded my understanding of life and enabled me to try different perspectives that I never dreamed of,” she says.
Houts-Hussey continues to be involved with the JVC in Yakima, Seattle and Portland. She says working with the volunteers has taught her to be idealistic and strong. She admires their creativity, enthusiasm and determination.
This week , JVC Northwest will celebrate its first 25 years in Yakima. Since 1984, there have been 201 JVC members who have served here.
In honor of the 25th anniversary, there will be a weekend-long celebration full of events.
“I hope that former JVs will come to the celebration and get back in touch with their roots in Yakima,” Rief says.
She’s also looking forward to seeing the faces of volunteers from years ago and reuniting with them.
The celebration starts with an informal gathering at Jack-Son’s Sports Bar on Tieton Drive from 8 to 10 p.m. Friday. It continues Saturday morning with coffee and doughnuts from 9 to 11 at the St. Joseph/Marquette School cafeteria, followed by an outing to Spring Barrel Tasting.
The 25th anniversary dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. at Holy Family Parish. After the 9 a.m. Mass on Sunday at St. Joseph Catholic Church, former and current volunteers will take part in a sandwich-making service project.
Jeanne Haster, the 54-year-old executive director of JVC Northwest in Portland, says, “I hope that everyone will come and learn about us and share in the excitement for the 25th anniversary.”

• For more information about the weekend celebration, visit www.jvcnorthwest.org. Tickets for the Saturday night dinner can be purchased from Rosemary Rief by calling 509-453-4107.

• Laura Aguilera-Flemming is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. She attends La Salle High School.