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MercyWorks: Bonds and Breakthroughs

MercyWorks: Bonds and Breakthroughs

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 by

Strong relationships with Mercy Home youth an unforgettable part of the MercyWorks year of service. MercyWorks volunteers spend a year at Mercy Home building relationships with youth that sustain them through days of profound challenge and progress.  After completing the MercyWorks program, volunteers can look back on moments that left them filled with awe and [...]

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MercyWorks: Your Chance to Do Something Extraordinary

MercyWorks: Your Chance to Do Something Extraordinary

Saturday, September 24, 2011 by

Grow professionally and personally with a year of service: Apply now! “I did more things last year than I did in the last five years of my life.” Britney Kummerer, a 2010-2011 MercyWorks volunteer, is now a full-time Mercy Home Youth Care Worker.  Britney speaks of her professional skills and network with great confidence.  A year [...]

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Prayers for Kids at Mercy Home

Prayers for Kids at Mercy Home

Wednesday, June 8, 2011 by

My Secret Prayer by Hannah Cookie Gray My hope is to see you rise to your full potential. To see you find peace and meet needs that are essential. My wish is that you find the grace to smile at the mess And to know how you should be treated and refuse to settle for [...]

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Continuing to Live the MercyWorks Values

Continuing to Live the MercyWorks Values

Monday, April 18, 2011 by

Grant was a MercyWorks volunteer from 2002-2003 and worked in School Resources. He taught high school theology for 5 years after MercyWorks and is now a PhD candidate in Theology at Loyola University Chicago. He married Erica , who was also a member of the 2002-2003 community, in 2008. It is extremely easy to unlearn [...]

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A Gift to Our Entire Family

A Gift to Our Entire Family

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 by

Katie Baron was a MercyWorks volunteer from 2007-2008.  Three years after Katie’s volunteer year, her mother took some time to reflect on the impact that MercyWorks and Mercy Home had on the entire Baron family. When my daughter Katie called in late October, 2006 to tell me that she had decided to do a year of service after graduating [...]

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Being A Witness To Another’s Life

Being A Witness To Another’s Life

Monday, December 20, 2010 by

I have come to realize that what I really came to Chicago for was a sense of legitimacy in my life. After sixteen plus years of study and learning, I wanted action and doing. I wanted to experience the things I had read about in classes for years—the places, the people, the politics. I didn’t [...]

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Considering A Year of Service?

Considering A Year of Service?

Tuesday, November 23, 2010 by

Amanda Sneed, a MercyWorks volunteer from 2009-2010, is a graduate of the College of Saint Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota.  She took some time to write to students at her alma mater who are considering a year of service.  Read more about Amanda’s journey that led her to MercyWorks. Dear Saints, I remember the day that, [...]

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Claire Noonan welcomes volunteers to Chicago

Claire Noonan welcomes volunteers to Chicago

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 by

Claire Noonan welcomes volunteers to Chicago: http://www.chicagocatholicnews.com/2010/09/x-files-welcome-to-this-city-of-beauty.html

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A Long Way Home

A Long Way Home

Friday, May 28, 2010 by

Last year, after visiting Mercy Home and interviewing for the MercyWorks program, I had lunch with my Grandparents in Chicago and was set to go back to their house to spend a couple extra days before returning home to Pennsylvania. While paying for the bill, my phone rang. After some hesitation I decided to answer [...]

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A New Look on Autumn

A New Look on Autumn

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 by

What can transpire over a four month period? A college football season can come and go, leaving some jubilant and others crushed. A baby in the womb will find that (s)he has a brand-spankin’ new set of nails and teeth. And, as I have learned during the first four months of my MercyWorks experience, a [...]

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Reflections on a Journey

Reflections on a Journey

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 by

My first visit to Mercy Home, at the end of last February, was a whirlwind overnight visit which began with an eight hour drive and ended the following morning with an interview and six inches of snow on top of my car. Regardless of the interview anxiety and ice on my windshield, Mercy Home presented [...]

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I Can Finally Say I’m Good at My Job

I Can Finally Say I’m Good at My Job

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 by

It was about February 7th this year when things finally started to click. My Girls and I were making Valentines Day cookies in the kitchen. A couple of the youth didn’t have any privileges, meaning they can’t do anything fun, including making and eating cookies. One of the girls had a surprisingly great attitude about [...]

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We are more alike, than we are unalike.

We are more alike, than we are unalike.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 by

Spring is slowly giving way to summer. The weather is getting warmer, the days are becoming longer. Eager beach goers are returning to the long abandoned shores of Lake Michigan. Bars and restaurants with patio seating suddenly have a new redeeming quality; and the city streets are becoming more crowded with people awakening from their [...]

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Reflections and advice

Reflections and advice

Friday, January 15, 2010 by

MercyWorks alum Karen Sarmir ’07-’08 reflected on her experience with the newest group of MercyWorks at the opening ceremonies. This is an excerpt: Run. A whole year awaits you. There are many challenges and opportunities that await you, so run with the challenges, embrace the opportunities, and know that your community is right beside you [...]

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Prayer for Couderc

Prayer for Couderc

Friday, January 15, 2010 by

I am your mirror – May I reflect only the beautiful women with unending  potential and a reservoir of gifts that blossom before me daily. I am your echo – May I resound the thoughts and feelings that are yours uniquely in ways that bring you clarity and hope. I am your punching bag – Deliver [...]

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A Reflection on Community

A Reflection on Community

Friday, January 8, 2010 by

On our Orientation retreat in August, we competed in the MercyWorks Olympics. The most athletically strenuous event was called Peter Pan. We had to choose a team member to be blindfolded and carry a pool Fun Noodle. Their mission was to locate the member of the other team who was trying to find two stuffed [...]

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A Christmas Reflection

A Christmas Reflection

Friday, January 8, 2010 by

Thanksgiving is at our backs: the trails of turkey, stuffing, football, and family feature in our more recent memory. In our immediate sight lay Christmas, complete with its gifts of giving, holly jolly humor, and sometimes sickeningly nice good-natured neighbors, their lights littered with white twinklings and red-green radiance. Situated (in)conveniently near each other, it [...]

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