Volunteer Profile: Sister Eleanor Goekler, SMIC

 

As we continue our celebration of National Volunteer Week, we offer you the volunteer profile of Sister Eleanor Goekler, SMIC who teaches English at the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women:

As a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, I have had the opportunity to experience the wide-ranging cultures and life situations of many peoples around the world. I know firsthand the dreams that, especially the women, have voiced to me of better lives for their children and their families as a whole. I also know the richness of what each of the cultures has for the rest of us. Ministering myself in the Brownsville diocese on the Texas-Mexico border, I have had the difficult experience personally of struggling with the language of the people with whom I lived and worked.

So it is my own life experiences that cause me to treasure the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women. I believe that the Center is a place where the women of the area can meet, share, and grow in their own lives while the lay and religious of the greater community can share their talents, also growing in the richness of the diversity found there. It is that belief that called me to be part of the group of Religious who gathered to help the Center to become reality – and when I was freer in 2013 --  to volunteer for more concrete expressions of involvement.

Every time I leave the ESL class I lead, I am energized by the gift of each of the women who comes; energized not only by seeing how they reach out and help each other, but also by how privileged I am to have this opportunity to serve.

It is letting the direction of the Center evolve from the expressed needs and desires of the women that has enabled it to be rooted in the neighborhood. The way that they themselves took on the planning and execution of the first anniversary celebration is a prime example of their ownership of the place and programs.

During National Volunteer Week, we offer thanks to Sister Eleanor and all our volunteers!

If you or anyone you know is interested in volunteering at the Center, please contact us at (973) 470-0844 or email Sister Elaine at srelaine@patersondiocese.org.