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2010-09-01 issue:

Volunteers make San Antonio home

Over the past three years, 12 volunteers have arrived and 11 stayed after term.

by Hannah Heinzekehr of Mennonite Mission Network

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Mennonite Voluntary Service participants have been journeying to San Antonio, Texas, to serve for 25 years. For many volunteers, this was a one-way trip. Since the beginning of the MVS program in San Antonio, some short-term volunteers have chosen to stay and make San Antonio home, but in recent years, the retention rate has increased. Over the past three years, a dozen young adult volunteers have arrived. Eleven of them have stayed after their service.

Mary Nan Ollis, left, discusses a client’s file with co-worker Sima Pearose. Photo by Cara Rufenacht.

"For some volunteers, coming to San Antonio and being embraced by the church community feels like the first time, as adults, that they are finding their place in the church," says Rachel Epp Miller, San Antonio Mennonite Church (SAMC) pastor.

"It is hard to imagine SAMC without MVS," says Epp Miller. "Our histories are quite parallel, and within the first few years of the church, the MVS unit was formed. Quite a number of our active, long-term members came with MVS and stuck around."

The congregation sees MVS as an integral part of their work in the community, and MVSers feel welcomed and cared for by members of the congregation.

"What we've learned is that these volunteers, to a large extent, are the face of Mennonites in San Antonio," says Epp Miller. "That’s a huge responsibility and a gift for our volunteers to be able to carry the Mennonite theology and faith into the city."

Volunteers are invited to use their own gifts within the church.

"Our church worship is enhanced because we are all involved in each other’s lives throughout the week," says Epp Miller. "A large part of our identity is living life together."

This connection to the church and the relationships that develop out of it are often a key factor in the decision to remain in San Antonio.

"People from the congregation are my main support network," says Mary Nan Ollis, who served with MVS from 2007 to 2009. "Whether it be an impromptu potluck or movie night or a Sunday service, there is great fellowship within the church."

Danielle Miller came to MVS from Holdeman Mennonite Church in Wakarusa, Ind., in the fall of 1997 and planted seeds that would root her in San Antonio for the years to come. Miller began in 1997 as a volunteer with the Service and Learning in San Antonio program, which would later merge with DOOR (Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection). Today, Miller is city director for DOOR San Antonio.

"I believe I learned more in my three years in MVS than I have in any other period of my life," says Miller.

SAMC also serves as the office for two MVS staff members, MVS program director Hugo Saucedo and MVS unit administrator Kristen Mast, a former MVSer.

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