Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Want to connect across generations? Join us:

Purpose Prize

Marc Freedman Portrait

The Latest from CoGenerate

Can Intergenerational Connection Heal Us?

Can Intergenerational Connection Heal Us?

The problems of social isolation and loneliness have been well documented.  We know that too many Americans, particularly young adults and older ones, feel lonely too much of the time. We know how we got here – the decline in membership groups, civic and community...

Overheard on Text: Can you take a joke?

Overheard on Text: Can you take a joke?

As colleagues from different generations (x and millennial), Marci Alboher and Duncan Magidson have been leading talks and workshops sharing their insights about working across generations. As they plan, they usually text furiously, sharing ideas and reflections....

*

James Conroy

Ignatian Volunteer Corps (IVC)
Purpose Prize Fellow 2007

Matching older volunteers with nonprofits in the Jesuit spirit of service.

Jim Conroy was a Jesuit priest in Wernersville, Pennsylvania, when a recent retiree expressed interest in participating in the community service experiences that the church had provided for his son. Conroy recognized an opportunity to connect retirees with nonprofit organizations working to address the concerns of low-income people. Along with another, now-deceased, priest, Conroy launched the Ignatian Volunteer Corps in 1995. The program integrates Jesuit principles of service, reflection, and education by developing partnerships with community nonprofit organizations and working together to ensure volunteers over 50 years old the opportunity to serve the poor while having a meaningful learning and life experience. In turn, volunteers commit to a consistent, dependable schedule to build strong bridges with the people being served and deliver high-quality service. Today more than 250 Ignatian Volunteer Corps members in 12 regional programs nationwide provide more than 176,000 hours of service, valued at almost $3 million annually, and four of five volunteers continue from year to year.