News Article

 A total of 29 Gonzaga University alumni have committed to serve in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, the most volunteers produced by any other college or university in the nation, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps reports. Ten Gonzaga alumni service in JVC Northwest, while 19 others toil for the common good in other regions nationwide.
            “Your alumni have dedicated themselves to a year or more of simple living and working for social justice in a spiritually supportive community as they walk with people living in poverty on or on the margins of society,” noted Maggie Conley, national project manager for the JVC.
            This year 336 Jesuit Volunteers will minister by teaching students of all ages, providing legal services, working with refugees and immigrants, serving with social services and at community centers, organizing in low-income communities and caring for people with HIV/AIDS. Gonzaga University volunteers now comprise 7.5 percent of all Jesuit Volunteers currently serving. 
                Jesuit Volunteer communities are located in large urban settings such as Detroit, Chicago, Boston, New York City, Houston, San Francisco and Los Angeles and in smaller cities such as El Paso, Texas; Portland, Maine; and Raleigh, N.C. The Northwest region of the JVC is the largest this year, commissioning 99 volunteers. The East region is the next largest, commissioning 80; 78 volunteers were commissioned by the Southwest; 49 in the South and 30 by the Midwest.
                Worldwide, 43 Jesuit Volunteers are fulfilling their two-year commitment to Jesuit Volunteers International (JVI) in locations such as Belize, Nicaragua, Peru, Nepal, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Tanzania. The JVI volunteers will aid the poor in these developing countries while they work in schools, with youth and in parishes. 
                Since 1956, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps has offered men and women an opportunity to work full-time for justice and peace, both locally and abroad. They are called to the mission of serving the poor directly, working for structural change in the United States, and accompanying people in developing countries. The challenge to Jesuit Volunteers is to integrate Christian faith by working and living among the poor and marginalized, by living simply and in community with other Jesuit Volunteers and by examining the causes of social injustice. To date, there are more than 12,000 former Jesuit Volunteers. 
                More information about the Jesuit Volunteer Corps can be found at its Web site at or by contacting Todd Dunfield at Gonzaga at (509) 313-6396 or via e-mail. For more information about the JVC, images or interviews, contact Maggie Conley at (410) 244-7133 or via e-mail.

                Following are the 29 Gonzaga University alumni now volunteering for JVC and their assignments:

 1.       Anthony Agosti, JVC South; 
 2.       Gianna Amsberry, JVC South; 
 3.       Kathryn Bates, JVC South; 
 4.       Julie Berry, JVC East;
 5.       Louis Chen, JVC Northwest; 
 6.       Katie Collins, JVC Northwest; 
 7.       Catherine Daze, JVC Northwest; 
 8.       Anthony DeLorenzo, JVC East; 
 9.       Brian Estes, JVC Northwest; 
 10.    Christine Fagnant, JVC East; 
 11.    Elizabeth Garnatz, JVC East; 
 12.    Sarah Gillespie, JVC South; 
 13.    Amanda Gilman, JVC Northwest; 
 14.    Anne Gumpert, JVC Northwest; 
 15.    Lindsay Hallvik, JVC Northwest; 
 16.    Mary Haupt, JVC Southwest; 
 17.    Jacqueline Koch, JVC East; 
 18.    Melissa LaFayette, JVC East; 
 19.    Luke Lavin, JVI in Micronesia; 
 20.    Kyle Leliaert, JVC East; 
 21.    Matthew Miller, JVI in Micronesia; 
 22.    Josef Olsen, JVC Northwest; 
 23.    Michael Parker, JVC Northwest; 
 24.    Danielle Rankin, JVC East; 
 25.    Emily Roche, JVI in Micronesia; 
 26.    Conor Senecal, JVC East; 
 27.    John Thompson, JVC East;
 28.    Alexandra Wagner, JVC Midwest; 
 29.    John Williams, JVC Northwest.