Recruitment

Now that I am a former VSC, Sr. T can put me to work promoting Vincentian service and recruiting volunteers. She claims I get a "finders fee" for influencing a college friend to join this year's VSC Community, but that money has yet to materialize. Maybe I get paid in prayers.

I've also had the opportunity to talk about VSC at two very different places: Villanova University's Post-Graduate Service Fair, and my high school's Religion 12 classes. Here are some observations about both.

Villanova

• Why must college campuses be inherently confusing to visiting drivers?
• Villanova is indeed as "affluent, attractive, and athletic" as an STL friend once told me
• Ladies of 'nova, I salute you for actually wearing jeans, or even cute skirts and tights! All the leggings-as-pants and nasty sweats on my current campus make me want to gag.
  
• Villanova university, I salute you for giving your students great information about how a volunteer year works and what students can do with it. It was also cool to see monks running around in their black habits.
  
• Fellow volunteer programs, I salute you for display boards that were snazzier than mine, and for the great work you do all over the world. I had some great discussions with people who did radio ministry in Alaska, taught English in China, helped at Covenant House in Philly, or even ran a pregnant women's shelter.
  

Religion 12

• I'd forgotten how crowded and chaotic my school's hallways could be.
• People actually laughed at my jokes about "Improving my nun acquaintance 1000%"
• All those brightly colored VSC pens leftover from Villanova were the surest way to the teenagers' hearts.
  
• Baby pictures from NFNF were also a hit.
  
• I tried to say things that I would have found provocative at age 17: social justice is for all Catholics, not "liberals;" you don't know everything you need to know about your faith yet; if abortion were illegal tomorrow, there would still be major social problems that need fixing as well. I doubt I blew anyone's mind, but the teacher seemed to think I did a good job.
  

Overall, these were both fun adventures that prompted me to re-evaluate my VSC year. What did I learn? Have I been following those lessons? How did a year of service change me? What do I need to do to continue to live that out? My resolution for 2010 is to find a weekly service commitment in my new city, now that I am settled in.