Photo: The QVS Boston house on retreat in Sandwich, NH in the summer of 2023.
If you read our blog about a shortened program year, you might be wondering, what will QVS do with the extended summer break? We are piloting a summer program! There are endless possibilities for how to make use of the houses for a few months and we want to be intentional about using our resources in a way that directly aligns with our mission. The QVS Board of Directors directed staff to experiment with summer service programs. We plan to explore two summer programs for different age groups in different cities.
When we are at college and university recruitment events, we often hear students ask about shorter internship opportunities. We would like to offer this kind of experience to college age students. This program will be about six weeks long. Students will get a taste for QVS and the Quaker way, while having an opportunity to gain some professional experience.
We feel that this path enables us to deepen into our mission of supporting young adults in living spirit-led lives.
We also want to explore what it would be like to offer a 10-day service learning opportunity for high school age students. Rather than working at individual site placements, this group would work collaboratively on one or two projects at one or two organizations. Perhaps they would help organize donations, build a community garden, or pack and deliver meals. Again, this would offer high school students an opportunity to learn about Quakerism and get a sense of what it would be like to serve in QVS as a Fellow.
The possibilities for these programs are vast and we are excited to continue to explore exactly what form they will take. We are still working out many of the logistics, as the summer program will not begin until 2025. We feel that this path enables us to deepen into our mission of supporting young adults in living spirit-led lives.
More Quaker Service Stories
Alumni Testimonial: Working for energy democracy in the climate justice movement
A year and a half ago when I started Quaker Voluntary Service and my position at Massachusetts Climate Action Network, I had no idea what a Municipal Light Plant was. Now they have become my “life’s work” or at least make up the majority of my very short career. This...
First QVS Alumni Reunion & 10 Year Celebration
Two weeks ago, around 40 QVS Alumni gathered from around the country for an Alumni Reunion & 10 Year Celebration. This event was a first of its kind and an experiment in gathering together. QVS staff had long hoped to offer a retreat like this,...
#QVSAlum Andrew Huff Article in Friends Journal- Life in a Box
Simplicity, possession, and class—they all touched a nerve because they all speak to what it means to have power in the world, power in your own world. These same factors unite in the experience of homelessness, perhaps one of the most humiliating and disempowering experiences in our society.
