The 301st unit of Brethren Volunteer Service begins work.

Photo by BVS

BVS Unit 301: (first row from left) Sarah Ullom-Minnich, Esther Kilian, Julia Schmidt, Lina Herrmann, Nora Boston, Amanda Strott, Deborah Schlenger, Mark Pickens; (second row, from left) Tim Heishman, Shino Furukawa, Luke Baldwin, Charlotte Rutkowski, Whitnee Hidalgo, Sarah Neher, Stephanie Barras, Dylan Ford; (third row, from left) Andrew Kurtz, Mandy Witherspoon, Jess Rinehart, Chris Luzynski, Johann Toelle, Tobias Domke, Jan Fahrenholz, Turner Ritchie.

The volunteers in Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) Unit 301 completed their orientation on July 16-Aug. 3 at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. The members of the unit, home congregations or home towns, and project placements follow:

Luke Baldwin of First Church of the Brethren in York, Pa., is working at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.

Stephanie Barras of Indianapolis, Ind., is going to OKC Abrasevic in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Nora Boston of Bonn, Germany, is serving at the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, D.C.

Tobias Domke of Castrop-Rauxel, Germany, and Jan Fahrenholz of Westerkappeln, Germany, are going to Project PLASE in Baltimore, Md.

Dylan Ford of Tipton, Ind., and Sarah Ullom-Minnich of McPherson (Kan.) Church of the Brethren, are serving at Su Casa Catholic Worker in Chicago, Ill.

Shino Furukawa of Mutterstadt, Germany, is serving at Innisfree Village in Crozet, Va.

Tim Heishman of West Charleston Church of the Brethren in Tipp City, Ohio, and Sarah Neher of McPherson (Kan.) Church of the Brethren, are working with the Church of the Brethren Youth and Young Adult Ministry serving as two of the three coordinators for the 2014 National Youth Conference, along with Katie Cummings.

Lina Herrmann of Luedenscheid, Germany, is serving at Human Solutions in Portland, Ore.

Whitnee Hidalgo of St. Clair, Mich., will work with Sisters of the Road in Portland, Ore.

Esther Kilian of Koblenz, Germany, is serving at Interfaith Hospitality Network in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Andrew Kurtz of Plymouth (Ind.) Church of the Brethren, will be volunteering with Quaker Cottage in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Chris Luzynski of Roanoke, Va., is going to the Brethren Disaster Ministries office in New Windsor, Md.

Mark Pickens of Mechanicsburg (Pa.) Church of the Brethren is serving at CrossKeys Village in New Oxford, Pa.

Jess Rinehart of Granger, Ind., will serve in Central America.

Turner Ritchie of Richmond (Ind.) Church of the Brethren, will serve in an interim assignment at the Brethren Service Center in Maryland, and then will go to the Asian Rural Institute in Tochigi-ken, Japan.

Charlotte Rutkowski of Hanover (Pa.) Church of the Brethren, is going to the Family Abuse Center in Waco, Texas.

Deborah Schlenger of Paderborn-Wewe, Germany, is serving at Washington City (D.C.) Church of the Brethren.

Julia Schmidt of Pandora, Ohio, is serving temporarily at the BVS office in Elgin, Ill., with plans to go to RAND in Zagreb, Croatia.

Johann Toelle of Muenster, Germany, is volunteering with Lancaster (Pa.) Area Habitat for Humanity.

Mandy Witherspoon of Columbus, N.C., will work at Gould Farm in Monterey, Mass.

For more about Brethren Volunteer Service go to www.brethren.org/bvs .

Source: 8/23/2013 Newsline