On...How Volunteering Affected Relationships

How Volunteering Affected Relationships

How did volunteering affect the way you think about relationships?

Dani Clark Scano, L'Arche, Rome, Italy

I’m definitely more able to listen better to my friends and family. I have more compassion for those in my life. It’s easier for me to see that a person reacting in an angry, violent or upsetting way is usually coming from a place of great fear and past hurt. This doesn’t mean I don’t get my feelings hurt, but it’s easier for me to forgive now that I have realized that I myself have similar hurts or wounds if you will. In volunteering I have seen Jesus in those I serve. I have felt God’s healing grace in showing me the joy of living simply. Knowing that God is at work healing me, how can I not help my brothers and sisters on their road to wholeness? If God forgives me, how can I not forgive others?

Christina Neill, Jesuit Volunteers- Northwest, Yakima, WA

Volunteering definitely helped me to understand how relationships have a central role in my life. Because I volunteered across the country from my family, I came to realize how lucky I am to have such loving and supportive parents. My decision about where to live after JVC was influenced by this.

Ryan Bubb, Response-Ability, Washington, DC

I volunteered the first year after I graduated from college, so it was a time of transition on multiple levels. I was leaving a network of relationships and starting to form a new one. Community living was a vital support during the year. I don't think I would have survived the year without it. It was great to come home to a community of people who I could share my successes and failures with, and who could relate to the difficulties I was experiencing.