Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
June 13, 2001
Volunteers dedicate a year of service to poor
Vincentian Volunteers program in 6th year serving homeless, abused
By Alwen Bledsoe
Inside a Victorian-style house in downtown Denver, 12 Colorado Vincentian Volunteers and their guests gather for a weekly Mass. The sunset streams through the second-story windows in a rush of gold, the only appearance of luxury in this place where even the Mass is stripped to simplicity - bread, wine, a conversational homily, and a small group singing hymns and liturgy to the lone voice of a guitar.
With only $75 a month at their disposal, the 12 Colorado Vincentian Volunteers, all women this year, have little choice but to live simply. For a year, these volunteers live in "Woody's Place," twin Victorian houses on Capitol Hill, and receive room, board, and an educational grant that can be used for student loans or tuition in return for working 8- to 12-hour days providing services to the poor at local non-profit agencies. Unable to afford cars, most volunteers walk, bike, or ride the bus to work.
This community is the realization of a dream that ignited the imaginations of directors Bill and Mary Frances Jaster 10 years ago. Now in its sixth year, the program recruits young Christian men and women to live in community with one another and with the poor.
Colorado Vincentian Volunteers take as its inspiration St. Vincent de Paul who devoted his life and ministry to the poor. The Vincentian charism, explains volunteer Erin Cassidy, 22, is that "of working with the poor, seeing God in all people, and especially the poor, and having the poor be our companions."
Though the volunteers participate in official community activities, weekly meals, meetings, and Mass, their interactions with one another extend far beyond that.
The community is what keeps her going in a very stressful job, said Katie Grieco, 23, a women's advocate at Safe House Denver, a crisis shelter for battered women.
"It's been hard to keep a fresh and pure spirituality when you're seeing a lot of things that aren't pure and aren't spiritual at all," Grieco said.
Grieco encounters the "raw side of life" daily, she said, as she counsels individual women, runs a weekly support group, and helps women escape dangerous situations, once even arranging for a battered woman to leave the state in the middle of the night because an abusive boyfriend had discovered that she was living at the shelter.
"I need to have my mindset changed when I'm (home), and my housemates can do that," she said. "When I've had a rough day, they get it because they're doing similar work. They listen to what I'm saying and offer a lot of support and encouragement. In fact, I'm afraid to think of what things would be like if I were living by myself."
Tammy Clarke, 31, joined Vincentian Volunteers after graduating from medical school last June.
"I went to medical school wanting to help, to make a difference," she said. "Throughout the whole training it was kind of easy to lose focus on that and just study and just be grounded in the sciences. I basically wanted to get back to really why I wanted to do medicine," she said, which now includes working with the homeless.
She currently works at Stout Street Medical Clinic for the Homeless, which provides free mental health and medical treatment as well as free medication for the homeless.
She sums up her experience of living in community in one word: "Amazing."
Another said that her year with Vincentian Volunteers has given flesh and blood to her picture of the poor.
"I grew up in the suburbs all my life - very white, middle class suburbs - and never really had any experience with people who were living in the street, living in poverty, struggling from pay check to pay check," said Cassidy, assistant director of programs at The Gathering Place, a day center for women and children in poverty and homelessness. "So, being able to talk with those people and ask questions and hear their stories I think changed my world view.
"Now I know their stories and I know their struggle and I know what makes them happy and I know their spirituality," she added.
While her view of the poor was once characterized by fear, said Cassidy, now she lives her life among them and intends to continue working in the service field when her one-year commitment draws to a close this month.
The Companions of the Colorado Vincentian Volunteers will be sponsoring Heart and Soul 2001, a benefit concert, 7 p.m. June 25 at Most Precious Blood Catholic Church featuring Father Pat Dolan, Mary Braden, 24-Karet Ring, and the Plazettes. Call Dottie Nittler at 303-756-8457 for more information.
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