Ignatian Volunteer Corps benefits giver, receiver

Retired teachers, nurses, magistrates and businesspeople gathered Oct. 7 at St. William of York in Baltimore to reflect on what keeps them busy these days.

Some teach classes. Some are librarians, while others act as financial officers or help with maintenance issues. Some send sympathy cards to those who have lost loved ones. All are volunteers with the Ignatian Volunteer Corps (IVC), a national nonprofit through which people ages 55 and older use their skills to help others.

“Seniors can feel isolated in retirement years,” said Nora Collins, executive director of the IVC’s Baltimore regional office. “Where is God calling you in retirement to give and receive?”

Based on the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, IVC volunteers commit to working eight to 16 hours a week for 10 months. They also commit to attending monthly meetings, two days of reflections and an opening retreat to reflect on their spirituality.

“The goal is to combine contemplation and action in line with God’s will and spirit,” Collins said.

“This has become so important to me. I enjoy the work so much,” said Carm Dorsey, 79, a retired nurse who taught public health at The Johns Hopkins University. At age 77, she felt she was “missing something” and wanted to do more. Now, Dorsey, a parishioner of St. Ignatius in Baltimore, works at the Franciscan Center in Baltimore helping people secure an identity by obtaining a birth certificate or social security card. She also helps in the center’s Dignity Plates Training Academy, a free 13-week culinary course.

“It is really life changing,” Dorsey said, of the center’s services. “Some people are still in treatment for addiction. This gives them hope they can get clean and get work.”

Before being placed at one of IVC’s more than 30 partner sites, new volunteers are asked what their interests and talents are. Some people want to do something completely different than their past careers; others are unsure, Collins said. Volunteers interview at proposed sites before deciding.

“Eighty percent of our volunteers stay five years or longer at a single site,” Collins said.

Previously the president of a university in Pittsburgh, Mary Hines was drawn to volunteering with IVC because her deceased husband was a former Jesuit. Her first placement was with Samaritan House, where she worked with victims of sex trafficking for eight years.

“I would go on walks with them,” said Hines, who attends Mass at the Carmelite Monastery in Towson. “There was no judgment. Some used to refer to me as ‘grandmother.’ ”

Hines now volunteers with hospice, where the people need her, and she needs them, she told the group at the October meeting.

“At our age, it keeps us going,” Hines said. “I wouldn’t be as happy or as fulfilled if I didn’t have this organization.”

A big part of IVC is accompaniment, according to Elaine Ireland, spiritual director for IVC Baltimore.

“Walking with someone for a period of time makes a change in their life,” Ireland said. “It is very, very special.”

People of all faiths are invited to be volunteers with IVC as long as they are comfortable with the Christian-focused program.

“We provide another source of community,” Ireland said. “It is an opportunity for people to come together in a safe environment to share where their challenges are.”

Paul Wakzyk, a parishioner at St. Margaret in Bel Air, taught an eight-week online introduction to business course and had students from around the world. While he enjoyed it, he is still looking for his niche with IVC, he said.

“It is an incredible community of people,” Wakzyk said, who had a career in marketing and advertising for 40 years. “A lot of folks are really, really bright and believe action is important. It’s incredible what these folks do. I’m in awe.”

School Sister of Notre Dame Grace Sciamanna, director of administration at Caroline Center, said IVC volunteers are “not your ordinary in-and-out volunteers.”

“What they do and what they give and how they continue to serve God and God’s people, they do make a difference,” Sister Grace said. “The gifts they share. I am very excited to work with them. It is always a pleasure.”

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