You can find out more about IVC from either Chris or Julie, or at www.ivcusa.org (click on DC/Metro Maryland); or call or email Joe Jones at 202-210-3637; jjones@ivcusa.org

The Ignatian Volunteer Corps (IVC) is men and women, age 50 and above and retired or semi-retired, who share their skills, talents and life experience with organizations that directly assist the materially poor or address issues related to poverty. Currently, the Corp’s DC/Metro MD Region partners with 18 such agencies and additional agencies are requesting ever more volunteers. A unique feature of IVC is a spiritual reflection component that helps volunteers discover deeper meaning in their service. The IVC meets the 1st Thursday of the month at St. Bart’s Assisted Living Library.

IVC volunteers work in local community agencies and programs that provide housing/shelter, meals, emergency assistance, education, job training, child care, immigrant/refugee services, health care, hospice care, counseling and personal support for children, families and adults who are poor and/or marginalized.

St. Bart’s has two parishioners who actively participate in IVC. Christ Swift has been a member of our parish since 1967. She currently is a Lector and an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, and volunteers with Meals on Wheels. Julie Panaro has been a member of St. Bart’s since 1987. She serves on the parish council and is an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion. Through IVC placement, she teaches total immersion intermediate English three afternoons a week to immigrants at the Spanish Catholic Center in Mount Pleasant, D.C.