Ignacio Volunteers Program
Ignacio Volunteers (Iggy Vols) Program
The Ignacio Volunteers program provides service immersion opportunities for undergraduate students at Loyola University New Orleans. This program aims to turn the university’s mission into tangible action by recruiting students from diverse backgrounds to come together to be people for and with others; to pursue truth, wisdom, and knowledge through meaningful pre-trip education, service, and immersion; and to find God in all that they encounter.
Participants of all service trips travel, serve, and live as one community during the experience. Participants are chosen a few months before the trip and meet regularly in advance of the actual travel. All trips are rooted in an Ignatian spiritual foundation of finding God in all things and include ongoing reflection within the community and on the trips. Fundraising for the trip is done by the group and as individuals.
Program Goals
TO SERVE: Participants will work with those of the greatest need — the impoverished and challenged, the disadvantaged young and the elderly.
TO LEARN: Participants will have an opportunity to explore the political, sociological, and economic issues that have created the environment and situation in which they will find themselves.
Program Core Values
SERVICE: Ignacio Volunteers put faith and compassion into action by keeping an open heart and a spirit of self-giving; by seeking first to understand, rather than to be understood; by being open to learning, even and especially, when it directly challenges them.
SOLIDARITY: Ignacio Volunteers serve not so much to “do for” but to “learn from” and to “be with” by encountering the joys, hopes, grief, and anxieties of those they serve by walking alongside them.
COMMUNITY: Ignacio Volunteers recognize that strength in community deepens their concern and compassion for others by loving and building community with those whom they share their journey—sharing desires, fears, hopes, questions, faith and love with each other.
SPIRITUALITY: Ignacio Volunteers commit to being fully engaged in the questions of faith, to share these questions in community, and to be open to the diversity of all traditions and experiences for Ignatian spirituality teaches us that each person’s relationship with their God is unique.
Ignacio Volunteer Spring/Summer Programs:
- NOLA Mass Incarceration Immersion (March 28th through April 1st Spring 2024)
Please contact Jacob DeRusha at jwderush@loyno.edu with questions.
Ignacio Volunteer Winter Programs:
- Albuquerque Immigration Immersion (December 16th through December 22nd 2023
*Recruitment for Winter Programs are held in August of each year*
Please contact Jacob DeRusha at jwderush@loyno.edu with questions.
Thursday, March 28th through Monday, April 1st 2024
TO LEARN: Participants will have an opportunity to explore inequality through the lens of the Jesuit conceptualization of social justice by being exposed to the nuanced layers of privilege and oppression in the city of New Orleans.
TO SERVE: Participants will both engage in direct service and experience and share in the personhood of others in the city of New Orleans.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: The New Orleans Mass Incarceration Immersion is designed to expose Loyola University New Orleans undergraduate students to the nuanced layers of privilege and oppression in the city of New Orleans as it relates to social location, gender, class, and race.
Participants will spend approximately six days of their Easter Break vacation examining inequality through the lens of the Jesuit conceptualization of social justice. This program will immerse students in the culture and history of New Orleans through the exploration of social injustices (past and present), community acts of service, and community reflection.
Participants in this domestic immersion program will learn, serve, reflect, travel, and live as one community. The program is rooted in an Ignatian spiritual foundation of finding God in all things and will include ongoing reflection within the community and during the program.
Twelve students will be chosen to participate. Upon acceptance, all students will be required to participate in an overnight retreat held at a local retreat house, weekly meetings, and a five night/six-day community living experience in the city of New Orleans. All participants will be asked to abstain from the use of technology during the duration of the community living experience. Fundraising for this program will be done by the group and as individuals.
IMMERSION ACTIVITIES WILL INCLUDE:
- A visit to a Louisiana prison
- Exploration of the United States Criminal Justice System
- Nightly group reflections
- Group Service Day
COST: Fundraising with a goal $200. This covers local transportation, housing, and meals for the entire week. Participants will be asked to fundraise as a group and individually and assistance in such will be given. A $50 non-refundable deposit is required upon acceptance.
LODGING: Participants will live together in the New Orleans metro area during the immersion.
Have any questions? Contact Jacob DeRusha at jwderush@loyno.edu
Saturday, December 16th through Friday, December 22nd 2022
Please contact Student Life & Ministry at getinvolved@loyno.edu with questions.
TO SERVE: Participants will serve among New Mexico's immigrant and working poor community through various different non-profits.
TO LEARN: Participants will be immersed into the community and learn about the social issues facing this population. Our partner organizations seek to, through this program, empower the immigrant community of Albuquerque while creating a bond with our students.
REFLECTION: The most important component of this Program is that it is immersive. Participants do not passively participate in service and then walk away, but rather spend their time here broadening their perspective through direct experience and reflect on that experience to make a difference for the greater common good.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: The Albuquerque Immigration Immersion is designed to expose Loyola University undergraduate students to the history, politics, socioeconomics, and social structures of an immigrant community in the United States while living & serving in New Mexico.
Participants will spend approximately 6 days immersed in the culture and history of immigrant people through advocacy training, community building, and direct service in the city of Albuquerque.
Participants in this immersion program will learn, serve, reflect, travel, and live as one community. The program is rooted in an Ignatian spiritual foundation of finding God in all things and will include ongoing reflection within the community and during the program.
10-12 students will be chosen to participate. Upon acceptance, all students will be required to participate in an overnight retreat held at a local retreat house, weekly meetings during the semester before travel, and a community living experience in Albuquerque, New Mexico. All participants will be asked to abstain from technology during the duration of the community living experience. Fundraising for the program will be done by the group and as individuals.
SERVICE: The type of work on The Albuquerque Immigration Immmersion will consist of food prep or another model of service to better understand the economic and working conditions in these areas.
COST: Fundraising with a goal $350. This covers air transportation (New Orleans /Albuquerque) local transportation, housing and meals for the entire week. Participants will be asked to fund-raise as a group and individually and assistance in such will be given. A $35 non-refundable deposit is required upon acceptance.