Welcome 2017-18 Dominican Volunteers
Today we introduce with great joy our 16 Dominican Volunteers who haved traveled across the country to share the Dominican charisms of prayer, study, community, and preaching. Please pray for them as they begin their journey of a year of service with DVUSA.
Sydney Boyer
Sydney is from Canal Winchester, Ohio. She is a recent graduate of Xavier University with a major in French. Sydney says she is passionate about French because she “loved being understood by others. To understand someone else and to be understood is such a gratifying feeling.”
Sydney is eager to begin her year as a Dominican Volunteer. She will be living in the St. Hugh of Lincoln community in Huntington Station, NY. Sydney will be serving adult English language learners at OPening Word. She says she is most excited to work with a population that continues to inspire her every day.
Julia Butts
Julia will be working with youth at the St. Francis Center in Redwood City, CA. She will be sharing community with the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. During her year as a Dominican Volunteer Julia hopes to, “learn from everyone she meets, growing from experience, and deepening her faith.
Jennifer Doering
Jennifer will be living in community at Immaculate Conception Priory with the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose. She looks forward to serving this year at St. James Elementary School, “being Dominican and having a blast!”
Elizabeth Drake
Elizabeth is from Oakton, Virginia. She attended Franklin and Marshall College and majored in Government with a concentration in Latin America, and a minor in Arabic Area Studies. She can be found happily crafting, reading, traveling, learning new languages, cooking, and taking photographs.
Elizabeth will be living at House of Connections in Chicago with the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. She will be serving this year at Catholic Charities Chicago. Elizabeth is looking forward “to work with refugees and learn more about the resettlement process.”
Vivian Garcia-Blanco
Viviana will be living at Our Lady of Assumption in the Bronx with the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt. She is serving this year with the Dominican Sisters Conference at the United Nations. She is eager to begin “building community with strangers, growing emotionally and spiritually, stepping out of my comfort zone and facing new challenges.”
Kateri Golbiw
Kateri will be serving this year at Immaculate Conception Academy in San Franciso with Campus Ministry and supervising students on their work-study commute. She will also be living in community at the Immaculate Conception Priory with the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose. She is excited for this marvelous adventure.
Diana Hernandez
Diana will be living with the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinsawa in Redwood City, CA. She will be ministering to youth at the St. Francis Center. As a Dominican Volunteer, Diana is most looking forward to “building relationships with my students and their families and being moved deeply by their stories.”
Niki Klco
Niki is a 2nd year volunteers. She spent her first year with DVUSA in Redwood City, CA where she worked at St. Francis Center. This year, she will be living at Our Lady of Assumption in the Bronx with the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt and will serve women and children experiencing homelessness at Siena House.
Zachary Moeller
Zach will be living at the House of Connections in Chicago with the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. He will be serving this year at Catholic Charities Chicago. He feels “so pumped to live in community and pursue faith and justice.
Henry Moller
Henry will be living in the Penn Community in Atlanta with the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. He will be serving this year at Cristo Rey Atlanta. He is excited to begin “working at a top tier school with an incredible mission and becoming part of their community hopefully leaving a lasting positive footprint.”
Madeleine Paulsen
Madeleine will be serving this year at Sarah’s Inn; working with women, men, and children who are survivors of domestic violence and their perpetrators. She will also be living at House of Connections in Chicago with the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. She is excited to share in community and gain new skills as well as utilize ones that she has gained from previous experiences.
Sarah Pereira
Sarah is excited to begin her year as a Dominican Volunteer, serving at Visitation Catholic School. She will be living at House of Connections with the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. She looks forward to the opportunity to experience Chicago while getting to know more amazing Dominican Sisters, meeting other volunteers, and working with kids.
Sean Puzzo
Sean is ready to begin this new adventure and is happy that his ministry will be close to home. He will be working for the Dominican Youth Movement and living at the St. Hugh of Lincoln Community in Huntington Station, NY. There he will be living with the Dominican Sisters of Amityville. He says as a native to the area, he’s excited to show his community mate around the Big Apple.
Carolina Talavera Romero
Carolina will be living at Casa Alianza in Redwood City, CA where she will share in community with the Dominican Sisters of Sinisinawa. She will also be ministering to families at the St. Francis Center. Carolina says she is ready to begin her volunteer year and looks forward to getting to know the families and children she will serve as well as teaching and exploring the west coast.
Gabrielle Smith
Gabby will be living with Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose and is really excited to be serving this year at Immaculate Conception Academy in San Francisco with the Guidance Counseling office. She says she is eager to start working with the students.
Stephanie Zavala Guzman
Stephanie will be working with women and children experiencing homelessness at Siena House in the Bronx. She will share in community at our Lady of Assumption with Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt. She most looks forward to “finding a new place I can call home and creating friendships that are fruitful and hopefully last years.”
Thank you each for saying yes to the Dominican Mission. Our Dominican family sends you forth in love and prayer. May God Creator bless you, may God Redeemer heal you, and may God the Holy Spirit fill you with light.