c. 1998 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Fresh out of college, Stefanie Atwater counsels rape victims and gives community presentations on sexual violence.

As a member of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, she’s getting hands-on experience she hadn’t expected to have so soon after graduation.”It’s the best thing I could have done right out of college, a soft step into the real world,”said Atwater, a recent graduate of Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio.

That”soft step,”however _ volunteering at the D.C. Rape Crisis Center _ has brought her and the three other volunteers she lives with to some of the harshest realities of urban life.

Like Atwater, many college graduates choose to do full-time volunteer work after graduation instead of immediately entering the corporate work force or going to graduate school.

Even before retired Gen. Colin Powell’s volunteer summit and President Clinton’s creation of the Americorps-VISTA program, the Lutheran Volunteer Corps and other similar organizations have been sending hundreds of volunteers into poor, inner-city neighborhoods.

The Lutheran Volunteer Corps expects to place some 90 volunteers throughout the country this year, said Amy Thurk, a recent recruiter with the group.

Other volunteer organizations range from secular groups such as Americorps to groups affiliated with denominations, such as the Brethren Volunteer Service of the Church of the Brethren.

One of the larger groups, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, finds the majority of its more than 500 volunteers are recent college graduates, said Kate Haser, director of the group’s eastern regional office.

Experts on volunteerism say interest in volunteering is growing.

According to E. Alfred Jenkins, a retired dean of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Ill., the emphasis placed on volunteering by Powell and Presidents Bush and Clinton has put a new spotlight on voluntary service.

That visibility has helped attract young adults who want to volunteer.”It tends to be the young and the retired that respond mostly to these agencies,”he said.

Andrea Smith-Shappell, a director of senior transition programs at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., said many graduating seniors look to integrate faith with service opportunities.

Full-time service organizations generally offer two kinds of opportunities for volunteers: direct and indirect.

Direct service involves activities such as working at shelters and clinics,counseling people overcoming addictions and ministering to people with AIDS. Indirect service includes public policy and advocacy jobs as well as opportunities to work with community activists.

Thurk said volunteers are motivated by a variety of reasons.”It was more my feeling of responsibility to take action more than any religious motivation for me personally,”she said, remembering her recent year of service with the Lutheran Volunteer Corps.”We do get a lot of volunteers that are really motivated by their religious upbringing and spiritual searches.” Ciara McElroy, who works with the homeless at the Middlesex Shelter in Lowell, Mass., said the Jesuit Volunteer Corps’ focus on spirituality was important to her.”It’s a way that I sort of live out my beliefs in Jesus,”she said.”It’s showing that caring and love that Christ shared with us.” Living simply, often in small communities of volunteers, is an important aspect of many religious service organizations.

Most volunteer programs give their volunteers a small stipend and provide them with health insurance. Volunteers who have student loans can apply for payments to be deferred because of economic hardship.

Living below the poverty line forces some volunteers out of their middle-class lifestyle.”I don’t think I’ve necessarily suffered, but I’ve stepped out of my comfort area,”said Katie McGovern, a Lutheran Volunteer Corps member who is working with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty here.”That’s been really one of the most important parts of the experience.” Mark Frey, who did two years of volunteer service with the Mennonite Voluntary Service after graduating from college, found the Mennonite ethic of simplicity to be a meaningful part of his volunteer experience.”It’s not so much to deprive yourself as much as it is a recognition that there are limited resources in the world,”he said.

McElroy, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps volunteer, said a simple lifestyle helps volunteers empathize better with the situation of the people they serve. In addition, living simply gives the volunteers credibility, she said. “It’s hard for them to believe in you if you’re driving to work in a BMW and they’re sleeping on the street at night,”she said.

Often volunteers living in community pool their resources and become like a family. They may organize Bible studies or reflect together on their experiences as part of their spiritual development. Sometimes, they just relax together when their schedules allow.

Also, living in community functions as a support network for the volunteers.”The frustrations you have about how the system works, you can share that with other people,”McElroy said.

While they don’t make much money, volunteers find satisfaction in their work helping people.

Rachel Little volunteers with victims of domestic violence at Ayuda, a Washington organization whose name means”Help”in Spanish, that offers legal aid to immigrants from Latin America.”I have a tangible sense that we’ve made important advances in that struggle,”said Little, another Lutheran Volunteer Corps member.

Often, volunteers choose to continue in the same field after their period of service is over.

McGovern, the volunteer working at the National Law Center, said she sees many friends already caught up in the rat race, worried about getting promotions and receiving raises. After finishing the program, she plans to go to law school and prepare to work in poverty law or women’s rights. “I can make the choice to have a low-paying job,”she said.

McElroy said she plans to go home to New Jersey after her year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps is over and work in a homeless shelter.

Since finishing with Mennonite Voluntary Service, Frey has worked with Christian Peacemaker Teams, doing peace work in Hebron, Israel, and speaking about that while back in the United States. “For me, the constant challenge is how do we create structures in our society that promote what God hopes for us,”Frey said.

He imagines himself always working in a service-related occupation.

Similarly, Thurk, the Lutheran volunteer, plans to work with small nonprofit organizations. Currently, she is with a Lutheran summer camp in California.”Once you see what we see and work with the people we work with, your eyes are really opened and it’s hard to walk away,”she said.

DEA END LEWIS