Letter From the Desk of Jackie Simon

Jackie (right) with fellow NDMV Alumni

By Jackie Simon, NDMV Alum 2011-2023 and Board President

In the summer of 2011, I was a recent college graduate, fresh off a study-abroad trip, with no clue what to do next. I had known for years that I wanted a career where I could build bridges across national and cultural barriers and help people learn more about each other. It was time to figure out how I would do that work. 

But looking around at my options at the time had me wondering –  is anyone around here actually doing any good? Can I do any good myself? Where is there an analytically and ideologically pure mission I can join without feeling like a sell-out??? (And by the way, it’s 2011. Is anyone handing out jobs anyway?)

I had been raised Catholic, but had lost my faith in the church as an institution in the early 2000’s. I grew up passionate about the idea of diplomacy and the government’s power to advance global cooperation and human rights, but most of what I’d witnessed in my formative years involved greed, war, and betrayal of trust. Like many young people, my faith in religion and government was diminished, and for good reason.

So of course, fate led me straight to the doors of Notre Dame Mission Volunteers, a Catholic service organization funded in part, at the time, by the federal government, through a small but mighty agency called AmeriCorps. I had been considering a year of service anyway, so on the recommendation of a friend, I applied to complete a term with NDMV in Baltimore City, where I knew nobody and had never spent any real time. 

I took a leap of faith into a space I was skeptical of.

I knew when I arrived that I’d found “my people.” I met other volunteers like me, who had been searching for a place where they could do something good, just like I had. I met the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, who have been showing me for 15 years now what it looks like to build unlikely partnerships and work within imperfect institutions to relentlessly and courageously pursue a better world. I met kids at my service site who were just starting to see their gifts unfold, and who would show me what it meant to prioritize learning and commitment to growth. 

I never expected to stay with an organization I joined right after college for more than a year, but NDMV has a way of keeping us all close. It serves as a soft landing place for people searching for purpose and a home base for everyone whose faith has been restored through the power of service that NDMV invites us into. It gives people the opportunity to witness what it’s like to break down barriers between people without having to travel very far. 

Importantly, NDMV helps us find each other. If you’re reading this, then you are part of that “us” - us, who hold out hope that there is goodness and liberation among all the world’s sorrow and oppression; us, who follow in the tradition of the SNDdeN’s commitment to growing “hearts as wide as the world;” us, who know what’s possible here, and how necessary it is for people to have the opportunity to find it. 

I know YOU know how meaningful NDMV is, but I invite you to especially consider how important it is today, in 2026, for someone to find a place where doing good is still an option and where it’s still possible to break down barriers rather than calcifying them. 

If you, like me, believe that we should invite more people into the circle of “us,” then I hope you’ll join me in supporting this work. Join us at an upcoming 35th anniversary celebration, set up a recurring donation for $35 a month (or maybe for the amount that reflects the year you served, like $20.11), or if you’ve got another type of gift to share, send your idea to serve@ndmv.org. 

Thank you for your commitment to service, goodness, and Notre Dame Mission Volunteers. I hope our paths cross again soon.