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AMAs Needed! February 10, 2009

Calling all young women who feel the call to serve! Our two communities in Chaparral, New Mexico and Worcester, Massachusetts need you to work with them as AMAs (Associate Missionaries of the Assumption) for the next volunteer cycle, August 2009 – July 2010.

In Chaparral, our AMAs do invaluable work with the children and youth of this colonia – teaching in the local schools, organizing camps during school breaks and vacations, holding weekly fun nights at Casa Maria Eugenia, teaching English as a Second Language, and responding to the many needs of the people in this border town with Mexico. They work with Assumption Sisters to safeguard the dignity and protect the human rights of the immigrants.

In Worcester, AMAs are needed to work with the Sisters and the parish community of St. Peter-St. Andrew Church in mentoring children and youth in the inner-city, providing academic assistance, wholesome recreational activities and friendship. The AMAs teach English as a Second Language to the many immigrants in this very multi-cultural neighborhood and offer educational support to those working toward their GED. They form part of the Main South neighborhood, with all its challenges, struggles and joys.

A former AMA speaks of her experience:

“For those who do not know a life other than their own, I invite you to step into the experience of another. I invite you share a meal with a family who welcomes you into their home whether they have enough food or not. I invite you to experience the sorrow of a family of children whose parents have been deported. I invite you to feel the strength in the embrace of a dying woman, with her children crying by her feet. I invite you to sit in a family’s home, see beyond the cracks in the walls and holes in the floor, and breathe in their love and happiness. I invite you to hold the hand of a child through the fence that divides the United States from Mexico. I invite you to take part and make an impact on the world around you."

Kristen Penkala, AMA in Chaparral, 2007-2008

Now is the time that we are accepting applications for the volunteer cycle, August 2009 – July 2010. For more information about the Chaparral and Worcester mission sites and to get to know about the other service opportunities offered by AMA, go to www.assumptionvolunteers.org Find out about the application process and act on that call you hear in your heart!

Some reflections from past volunteers:

Andrea, Chaparral

Liz, Worcester

Maggie, Chaparral

Pierre, Worcester

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How You Can Become A:

AMA Maggie and friend in Chaparral

AMA Liz and her ESL students in Worcester

Former AMA Kristen Penkala

Past and present Chaparral AMAs