In September, we welcomed LVC Baltimore Alum (1997-1998) Tait Danielson Castillo onto our staff as our Major Gifts Officer. Tait has been raising funds and building upon the strengths of non-profits for over 20 years. As a graduate of Wittenberg University, he has focused his career on advocacy for under-resourced and new immigrant communities.  Tait completed his year of service with LVC in 1998 in Baltimore, Maryland and moved to the Twin Cities of Minnesota where he spent another year becoming an ACORN trained community organizer. He invested another 13 years in Minnesota, working at local and international non-profit organizations. Thanks to Tait’s development accomplishments, the CenterRead More →

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Jenn (second to the right) with Ella Baker housemates Jenn Tapler, an LVC17 Volunteer originally from Maryland, is serving this year in the Bay Area with Rental Assistance Disbursement Component (RADCo) at Eviction Defense Collaborative. The primary focus of the Eviction Defense Collaborative’s work is to prevent homelessness by keeping current tenants housed, while RADCo specifically grants loans to tenants who owe rent. Jenn’s role at EDC is serving as a Rental Assistance Coordinator – she “screen[s] clients who come into our drop-in clinic and collect the documents we need to see if they are approved for our services. I also manage the loan repaymentRead More →

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Grace (right) with Twin Cities Volunteer Emily Campbell (left) at the Pipeline 3 Protest organized by Honor the Earth and MN350 One fun fact about #LVC17 Volunteer Grace Corbin is that she is one of three twins serving in the Twin Cities this year (LVC Staff Member Deirdre Kanzer “promises” she didn’t do that intentionally…). She is from Grantsburg, WI and is a recent alum of Augsburg College (now Augsburg University), where she received a degree in Youth and Family Ministry. She is a huge Harry Potter fan, a body hair advocate, and loves music and volleyball. Grace is serving at the Minneapolis Area Synod ofRead More →

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Morgan (second left), with Koinonia housemates It’s now been more two months since our new Volunteers began serving at their placement sites! For our Volunteers, these months have been  filled with new beginnings, uncomfortable amounts of vulnerability, realizing the importance of intentional budgeting (usually after it’s too late), and finding some peace in that the fact that they’re all doing it together. Volunteer Morgan Simmons is serving this year in Wilmington, DE at Lutheran Community Services and living in the Koinonia House. Morgan is one of a couple of our Volunteers focused on food insecurity, as this year she serves as a Food & Shelter Assistant,Read More →

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Lucas (left) at Trinity on their church work day Although the trail from Yucaipa, California to Omaha, Nebraska seems to be a long one, new Volunteer Lucas Shurson seems to have made the transition well (probably thanks to spending four years developing some Midwestern charm at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN). For his year with LVC, Lucas will be serving Trinity Lutheran Church in Omaha as a Community Connector. As the church’s Community Connector, Lucas’ role is assisting the church’s outreach programs – helping run a couple long-standing outreach programs like Trinity Reads, a partnership program with six different Omaha elementary schools that distributes books to schools,Read More →

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