Back from Georgia

Just got back from a four-day trip to Athens, Georgia. We visited the University of Georgia and had a fantastic time!

On Thursday evening, Eddie (FVM Wilmington), Rory (FVM Philadelphia), and I spoke with 22 students at an event called Thursday Night Theology. We sat in the living room of the friary and discussed FVM and volunteering. We had a great response from the students. The event began at 8 and was supposed to end at 9, but we ended up talking until almost 10, with many students hanging around after for more. It was a great turnout, and a fun event.

Over the next few days we spoke at a confirmation retreat and four Masses. We probably spoke to around 800 students over the Mass schedule and also were able to talk to a group on a confirmation retreat. Each one of these times were very positive and generated great interest.

We also survived two tornado warnings and a power outage our last night in town. Life is always interesting in FVM!

Peace

Merry Christmas

First off, the Franciscan Volunteer Ministry would like to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas (belated of course), and a Happy New Year (anticipatory). These holiday times are of course crazy, but we hope they are filled with joy, happiness, and family.

Here is a link passed to me by several people featuring FVM alum Karen Pushaw in an MSN Money article about charities and the holiday season.

MSN Money article

A snowy weekend

This weekend marked the wedding of a couple who met at the St Francis Inn. The groom was a former FVM, and the other volunteered at the Inn during her years at Villanova University. The two met in the whirlwind that is the St. Francis Inn, and wouldn't you know it, their wedding wasn't a walk in the park either.

For some reason, Mother Nature decided to drop 20+ inches of snow on Philadelphia the day of the ceremony, and for a city WITHOUT snow plows, I'm sure you can imagine the mess it was. However, folks came from as far as Chicago, Boston, and Virginia in the worst snow storm in over a decade to see these two fantastic people devote their lives to one another.

One of our FVM site supervisors presided over the mass, and in total, 19 years of FVM were represented at the ceremony. We all had a fantastic time, and couldn't be more happy for Dan and Laura!

Congratulations Dan and Laura from all of us at FVM! We eagerly await the coming of generation #2 of volunteers!

Peace,

Matt

Hope

There is always hope in the world...

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/11/23/emmanuel.jal/index.html

Finally home...

The travel has stopped for the time being, and I have returned home for the first time since Oct. 30.

I was able to take part in the Catholic Network of Volunteer Service (CNVS) National conference in Durham, N.C. last week and found it extremely helpful. What a wonderful time to spend with other program directors and staffers who spend their lives dedicated to serving others.

This time of the year always reminds me of the S.O.A. protest that occurs at Fort Benning, Georgia. For those of you who are not familiar with the S.O.A., check out the link below to see what the protest is all about.

http://soaw.org/

A picture from this year's protest

Back to it

Sorry I haven't written in a while. Traveling has taken over with college volunteer fairs, retreats, and meetings around the east coast. Stay tuned for a bi-weekly commitment (at least) to our blog for the next little bit of the year.

Since my last post, I have been to St. Lawrence University, SUNY Potsdam, Sacred Heart University, Boston College, Stonehill College, Assumption College, College of the Holy Cross, St. Anselm College, and St. Bonaventure University. During my visits to these schools, we met hundreds of students interested in volunteer work after their undergraduate degrees are completed. It is a beautiful thing to see so many young people interested in service! I participated in career/volunteer fairs, personal information sessions, and had time to speak of the program during student masses.

We also just got back from retreat a few days ago. Each community headed to West Clarksville, NY to Mount Irenaeus, a Franciscan retreat community close to Buffalo. We spent four days in the mountains watching the snow fall, feeding chickadees, and enjoying the entire community. It was refreshing to see grass, trees, and all of God's other creations in nature after spending so much time surrounded by concrete and high-rises.

Coming up, I am heading to Durham, N.C. to attend the CNVS (Catholic Network of Volunteer Services) National Conference. I will be attending presentations for new employees most of the time, but also will be able to visit Duke University for a volunteer fair.

That's it for now. Updates to follow!

Olympic Flare Out

I thought I would take advantage of another beautiful day in Chicago(my last) and see something I have never seen before. Watching the news when I woke up, I saw that there was a rally going on in Daley Square, as thousands of people were watching the unveiling of the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games. I have heard over the past few months that Chicago had a pretty good chance at landing the Olympics in the U.S. again, and now with President Obama AND Oprah as liaisons for the Windy City, I figured it was in the bag. Oh, how wrong I was.

At 10:24 Chicago was officially eliminated from the possibility of having the Olympics in 2016. The disappointment and stunned attitude was something I have only witnessed when Aaron Boone launched a home run into the left field seats during the 13th inning of the 2003 ALCS. Shock was feeling being most emoted by the Chicagoans, and I had to sit back and take it in for a minute.

I watched the larger-than-life television screens give reasons for why Chicagoan should keep their heads up, and that the over four-year-long effort to bring the Games to Chicago didn't go wasted. I watched people actually cry over the announcement. WHAT??!?!?! That's right, CRY!

For a minute I thought that because of this decision and the reaction of the crowd, Chicago would no longer be heralded as one of the great cities in America. That Da Bears, Da Bulls, Da Cubs and Da Sox were leaving town. That the thin crust pizza was officially better than the deep dish. Common people. You lost, wait, not even lost. You just weren't chosen.

In my befuddlement of what I was seeing, I wondered whether the same reaction would be emoted if pictures of suffering children, women, and men of Chicago were flashed across the big screens. If people realized that over 17,000 people are homeless in the state of Illinois. My guess in probably not.

So let's be real. I am as much of a sports fan as there is, but there are so many larger issues in our country than "losing" the Olympics to a CONTINENT that has never hosted an Olympiad. Let's give some love to Rio de Janeiro and South America, and stop wallowing in our own ridiculous misery. There are better things to worry about.