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Wichitan set for year’s service as intern at Washington parish By Melodie Woerman Drew Vining will spend the next year living in a strange city with people he’s never before met, working with children at risk and making just a few hundred dollars in the process. How does he feel about this opportunity? He loves it. Vining, a member of Good Shepherd, Wichita, is an intern in the Trinity Volunteer Corps, one of several mission programs for young adult interns sanctioned by the Episcopal Church. The program is affiliated with Trinity Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., and places interns in social service agencies in the greater Washington area. Vining has been assigned to the Episcopal Center for Children, a private, non-profit day treatment facility for emotionally troubled children. He will serve as a counselor to 60 students, age 5 to 13, helping them assess their behavior goals and assisting them in making good life choices. He and four other Trinity interns from across the U.S. live together in a house near the church provided by the program. They’ll earn just $300 a month, but program officials said that’s part of the plan. “This modest stipend will enable them to live very simply,” said Donyelle McCray-Bernard, one of the program’s administrators. Calling this “voluntary poverty,” she said it helps the interns “not only sympathize with the poor but live in solidarity with them.” Seeking discernment Vining said he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do after graduating in May from Kansas State University (with a speech communications major and a business minor), but he knew he wanted the chance to see the world beyond his native Kansas. He was contemplating job opportunities in Kansas City when Bishop Dean Wolfe gave him information on the Episcopal Church intern programs. He applied to several, along with the national Teach for America program. The Trinity program was quick to offer him one of their five intern positions, and he was just as quick to say yes. The idea of working in an Episcopal program is a natural fit for Vining, who has done just about everything a young man can do in the Diocese of Kansas. His list of activities is long — peer minister, youth commission member, convention delegate, Happening rector, summer camp attendee and then camp counselor. At K-State he was instrumental in keeping the campus program going during a time of transition, organizing weekly spaghetti suppers for students and working in the Tuesday morning breakfast program for homeless in Manhattan. He lived in the KSU Canterbury House his last year there and served on the Higher Education Committee. He also participated in the summer’s diocesan mission trip to Kenya, raising funds to pay his way by sending out more than 200 letters to friends at Good Shepherd. McCray-Bernard said all this made Vining exactly the kind of intern they wanted. “We seek recent college graduates who are deeply committed to living out their faith,” she said. Interns have to have the courage to examine their lives and act on what they learn through interacting with the poor and needy, she said, as they seek the will of God. Time of exploration Vining said that kind of discernment is what he looks forward to most in the coming year, as he explores what kind of work he is supposed to do in the future. He said the interns, living in an intentional Christian community, will spend one night a week in vocational discernment. He’s certain his call isn’t to ordained ministry, but beyond that he is open. “I’ve been prayerful, asking God for guidance,” he said. “I’ve been told my whole life to let God take control, and I’m trying to do that now, but it’s hard.” Vining said he’s also looking forward to the chance to live in a big city outside the Midwest. In the month since he’s been in D.C., he already has discovered lots of activities available even on an intern’s salary, including free concerts, the National Zoo and many of the city’s monuments and He also is getting involved at Trinity and has joined the choir. Having a church home made the move to a strange city less scary, he said. Vining is chronicling his time as an intern on a web blog. Follow his activities at www. xanga.com/andrewjvining. |
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Episcopal Diocese of Kansas. All rights reserved.
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