Dear Friends of the Pallotti Center:
It is with a sense of regret but also profound gratitude to you that we announce the closing of the St. Vincent Pallotti Center, to take place effective June 30, 2012. Our Board of Directors has decided that, after 27 years of service to prospective, current and former volunteers and to the Catholic lay mission programs that support volunteers, our organization has completed its mission.
When the Center was formed by the Immaculate Conception Province of Pallottine Priests and Brothers in 1984, long-term volunteer service was a unique, under-utilized option for recent college graduates. There were few ways for people to learn about how to volunteer or for lay mission programs to get the word out and bring the news of their mission to Catholics. At that time, there was no user-friendly access to the internet and there were few publications and resources to support volunteers, missioners and programs. That is why we established six fully staffed offices in dioceses throughout the country.
Today, in contrast, people of all ages are more aware of the many opportunities to serve through organizations both secular and sacred, and thousands annually seize those opportunities. We hope that to some extent, it was our partnership with you, diocesan offices, campus ministers and other national programs that has helped bring volunteer service into greater awareness in the Church in the United States. And for that collaboration with you and others, we are deeply grateful.
Be assured that though the Center will close in 2012, in the interim we remain committed to your program. We will strive to honor all our commitments to you for the current program year. During this past fall, for example, we attended as many as 20 college fairs promoting the work of our member organizations in hopes of finding you volunteers for the 2012-13 program year.
It is our goal to wind up the Center’s work with no disruption to our services through the end of June 2012, though likely with a gradually shrinking staff. Upon that date, day-to-day operations will cease but our website will continue to be available to programs as well as to prospective, current and former volunteers until the end of September 2012. You will continue to receive Shared Visions and Staying Connected through the spring of 2012 and we continue to provide valuable e-mail job listings to support former volunteers who are seeking meaningful employment. This year we will update our What’s Next? Notebook and, as usual, make it available to you.
Please remember that we have archived more than twenty years worth of supportive Pallotti publications on our website: http://pallotticenter.org. If you would like a DVD of these resources for your future use, please let us know. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We can be reached at 1-877-VOL-LINK or Pallotti@pallotticenter.org.
We thank you for your partnership and support over the past 27 years.
With Gratitude,
Fr. Peter Sticco, S.A.C.
Chairperson of the Board of Directors
Michael J. Goggin
National Director