Tucson, AZ

(520) 750-1405

Service
The Tucson MVS unit's primary purpose and mission is to be a support and vehicle for outreach for Shalom Mennonite Fellowship in Tucson, while serving the community by volunteering in social service agencies, church and other groups that work with the poor, and by assisting low income families in a home repair program. The agencies with which Tucson MVSers currently work include:

• Community Home Repair Projects of Arizona, or CHRPA, Inc., which does home repair for home owners whose income is below poverty level, and where MVSers have served as office assistants, bookkeepers and home repair workers
• St. Elizabeth of Hungary Clinic, which provides medical care for people without health insurance on a sliding fee scale, and where MVSers have worked as nurses and social workers
• BorderLinks, an ecumenical program that seeks to raise consciousness about U.S.-Mexico border issues through experiential education (e.g., travel seminars along the border) for groups from all over the United States and Canada, and where MVSers have been office assistants and program organizers

MVS Application To apply for one of the service opportunities below, complete an online application, or print and mail a PDF application (Adobe Reader required) and send it to: Mennonite Mission Network ATTN: Human Resources 500 S. Main P.O. Box 370 Elkhart, IN 46515-0370

Location
Tucson is a city of nearly 800,000, located about 100 miles south of Phoenix and about 60 miles from the Mexico border. It is one of the fastest-growing cities of its size in the United States. Tucson has a unique blend of Native American, Spanish, Mexican and Anglo heritages, and it is home to the University of Arizona. About 40% of the population is Spanish-speaking. Tucson boasts of being the city with the most days of sunshine in the United States, averaging more than 340 a year. It is a desert city--located in the Sonoran Desert, the most vegetated desert in the world and the only place on earth where saguaro cacti grow--but because of its elevation (approx. 2,400 feet above sea level), it can have cold nights, particularly in the winter. It is surrounded by four mountain ranges.

Tucson's wages are some of the lowest in the nation. There are many families classified as "working poor," who work minimum wage or low-paying jobs to try and support their families. There are many new immigrants in Tucson, mainly from Mexico and Latin America, a group that has many needs such as education and health care. There are also many homeless in Tucson because of the mild climate. However, Tucson was recently ranked the third most hostile in the United States toward the homeless.

Unit
Tucson is one of several MVS units in which not all volunteers live in the same house. Tucson is a "family friendly" unit--families are often part of the unit, and when they are, they usually have a separate residence 3 1/2 miles from the main unit house. Tucson MVS emphasizes a simple lifestyle. Unit members share household responsibilities. Flexible attitudes toward community life are strongly encouraged.

A unique part of MVS life in Tucson is the SOOP program--Service Opportunities for Older Persons. During the winter months, as many as 25 mostly retired people participate in SOOP, working with CHRPA and in local social service agencies and schools. Some of the SOOP volunteers live and work with the long-term volunteers. Unit life is enriched by the wisdom and caring--and the good cooking!--of the "winter MVSers."

The Tucson unit has a local program coordinator (LPC) as well as a support committee made up of members of Shalom Mennonite Fellowship. Tucson MVSers observe a regular unit night where they gather to share a meal and take care of unit business. They have an "I&O (Issues & Opportunities) Night" once a month, where an outside speaker is invited to come for a meal and to speak to the unit and any interested church members about a current issue in Tucson (e.g., domestic violence, water conservation). The unit has a monthly activity night, which often involves going out together as a unit, and takes occasional unit retreats.

Church
All volunteers are encouraged to attend Shalom Mennonite Fellowship, the local Mennonite church on whose grounds the main unit residence stands, to learn to know members, to join small groups and to participate in other church activities. MVSers are also encouraged to take an active role in the congregation--one of MVS's roles in Tucson is to support this small but growing and constantly changing church. The congregation numbers about 100 members, many of whom are former Tucson MVSers.