Survey assesses impact of service on lives of Jesuit volunteers

Published: 2006-03-24

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- A survey of nearly 5,000 alumni of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps shows that the volunteer experience has had a lasting and positive impact on their lives. The Fairfield University survey, commissioned by the Baltimore-based corps to mark its 50th anniversary in 2006, compared the responses of the former Jesuit Volunteer Corps members to a comparable group of Americans responding to the National Opinion Research Center's General Social Survey. The survey found that 18 percent of the former Jesuit volunteers work in the nonprofit sector, compared to 7.4 percent of the general population, and that nearly half of the ex-volunteers work in service-related careers, such as education, health care and social services. Eight out of 10 Jesuit Volunteer Corps alumni volunteer in their churches, schools or communities, compared to less than half of the general public.

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