Jesuit volunteers sow seeds of change

MANILA, Philippines – Nearly three decades since its establishment, the Jesuit Volunteers Philippines Foundation Inc. (JVP) continues with its mission to sow seeds of change.

JVP members,
composed mostly of new college graduates and young professionals, chose to spend a year or more in far-flung provinces and help impoverished communities.

Several of its members have gone on to pursue careers in business, the academe and other fields, but JVP’s membership remains strong and growing.

Founded in 1980 by Jesuit priest Fr. William Kreutz, SJ., JVP has had more than 800 members, 23 of whom are still active in volunteer work.

JVP executive director Edlyn Kalman said that while the group does not boast of so many members, what is important is that it continues to attract new volunteers 28 years after it was founded.

“Other volunteer groups have died. What surprises me is that there are still new volunteers wanting to join (JVP),” she said during a gathering last Thursday of JVP members at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Kreutz, fondly called “Father Bill” by JVP members, said the number of volunteers who have joined the group should be “multiplied” by the number of children in poor barrios in the provinces or those parishioners who are now able to join the singing of gospel songs in the parishes to see the impact that the group has had on society.

“JVP is win-win. The volunteers win and those they were sent to also win,” Kreutz said.

During Thursday’s gathering, Nicky de Lange (JVP Batch 7) said he joined the group to search for the meaning of life.

After breaking up with his girlfriend during his last year in college, he said he realized one thing: “If you are alone, you have more time for other people.”

He volunteered as a high school teacher in a community in the Visayas, where he learned things like cooking, doing laundry, and teaching without books.

After a year, De Lange decided to pursue another career, just as others had predicted, but he maintained it was not because he had given up his desire to help other people.

“Of course you move on with your life. I can’t do that (help others) in torn jeans,” he said.

Rene San Andres (JVP Batch 2-3) said a common misconception is that those who do volunteer work will be “poor in their lifetime.”

San Andres added that moving on to pursue another career after a few years of volunteer work does not mean JVP members have left behind the values they have learned from the group.

San Andres even stressed that the aim of changing the world “has to be done on all fronts” and anyone can do something whether he is an entrepreneur, a teacher or a full-time volunteer.

Joy Belmonte (JVP Batch 13), for her part, said cynics think of volunteers as “reverse elitists” who are trying to present a “counter-culture” different from what they are used to.

After her stint as a JVP volunteer in Bukidnon, she has established non-profit groups like the Quezon City Performing Arts Group and the Quezon City Ladies’ Foundation that help women and children in the city.

PJ Mariano (JVP Batch 25), meantime, said choosing to become a volunteer is a way of opening one’s self to another.

“And every time someone opens himself up to another person, the world becomes better,” she said.