It’ll be a while before Saylor Garcia doesn’t think about what’s for lunch at Assumption Church Food Pantry and Soup Kitchen in Syracuse, New York each day. She lives hundreds of miles away now, having secured a job near Boston, but the kitchen and pantry have left their mark.
Saylor recently finished a year of service with FrancisCorps, volunteering in the kitchen and distribution center. Thousands of vegetables were chopped, but it was the clients that changed her life.
“Getting to encounter the face of Jesus in those who came to receive food almost every day was a true gift,” Saylor wrote in a recent reflection on the FrancisCorps website. “From the person who spoke a different language, to the mother bringing several children to get dinner, to the man who lives in a tent, to the person who just lost their job, and to the kids who came by themselves, they reminded me why I was there. I can only hope they know how much they taught me about God’s endless mercy and love for His children.”
For more than 25 years, FrancisCorps has provided opportunities for volunteers to experience firsthand what it means to live as a Franciscan, serving the community, while also living in community.
A ministry of the Franciscan Friars Conventual of Our Lady of the Angels Province, FrancisCorps continues to invite young men and women to this experience of Gospel life. The goal is helping volunteers turn their year of service into a lifetime committed to living the Gospel in their families, careers, parishes, and communities.
A new cohort of volunteers joined the program in August, shortly after six college graduates completed their service year, including Ali Tregle, who spent her year of service at St. Joseph’s House for Women.
“I learned to slow down and truly see people for who they are, beyond their circumstances, and to hold space for them with gentleness and respect,” Ali wrote in a reflection titled, “When Service Becomes Formation.” She continued, “My time at Joseph’s House strengthened my interpersonal skills in a way that will carry into my career, teaching me how to build authentic connections rooted in compassion and trust.”
Ali is moving on from her year of service into a career as a Provisional Licensed Professional Counselor (PLPC) and will be counseling individuals facing adversity much like those she encountered last year.
“I hope to continue serving God and others through my career, carrying the lessons of mercy, hope, and the inherent dignity of each person into every session I share with those entrusted to my care,” she wrote. “I learned that service often looks like simply being present and listening, and that this, too, can be a profound act of love.”