AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) provides full-time members to nonprofit, faith-based and other community organizations, and public agencies to create and expand programs that ultimately bring low-income individuals and communities out of poverty. Through AmeriCorps*VISTA, ordinary people provide extraordinary service in more than 1,200 projects nationwide.

The Leaven Center ~
nurturing the relationship between spirituality and social justice

Other Leaven Pages:

Leaven's Home Page

Who We Are
& What We Do

Upcoming Events

The Leaven Retreat Center

Spiritual Direction

The Leaven Boutique

Links of Special Interest

Contact us by mail at Leaven
P.O. Box 97
Lyons, MI 48851

by e-mail at
leavencenter@leaven.org

or by phone at 989/855-2606

Neil Byrne
Coordinator of Service Learning

I first attended a Leaven workshop, Men’s Work, in January 2005. The things I learned in that program shocked me awake from the slumber of silent consent to oppression that I, as a white male, had participated in for most of my life. As painful as the realizations that I made during that short, but powerful few days were, I resolved to learn more. I participated in several programs that year and found my awareness expanding with each event. Through the support and encouragement of friends inside and outside of the Leaven community, I found what I needed to make changes in my life. I left my job of 10 years and have been growing and changing, mostly willingly, ever since. With new awareness and a desire to work for change, I feel blessed to have been invited to serve as a Leaven staff member.

I’m grateful to be serving as Coordinator of Service Learning Opportunities for The Leaven Center.  I started this work, as an AmeriCorps*VISTA Member, in November 2006. Since then, my work has included collaborative efforts with Michigan Disability Rights Coalition on a year-long service learning project. This project will include training in leadership, history of disability rights movements, and accessibility assessment/improvement. I’ve also worked with staff and students from Beecher Scholarship Incentive Program, of Beecher High School in Flint, Michigan, to co-facilitate a two-day service learning project resulting in new wildlife habitat at The Leaven Center.

Another project I had the honor of working on was co-facilitation of Getting Real! 2007. It was wonderful to share The Leaven Center with such a great group of boys and facilitators. Day-to-day operations make up a part of my occupation as well. At The Leaven Center, every staff member participates in cooking, cleaning, maintenance and working with volunteers. In all aspects of this work, I find a deep spiritual connection with the Leaven community as I help support people working for social justice.

I recently accepted an invitation to serve another year as a VISTA Member at Leaven, and I look forward to being here to carry through what I have learned as we make the transition to a new Executive Director.

The Leaven community is unlike any I have experienced.  We are changing the world together.  Among the qualities that I value the most are that Leaven is authentic, transformative, challenging and supportive.  I’m honored to serve here.

My first introduction to The Leaven Center was in July 2005. I signed up for “Place and Exile – Borders and Crossings: A Four Day Workshop on Writing and Social Change,” after reading about it on a local LGBT listserv. The idea of connecting the art of writing with the social justice movement intrigued me. Nervous and excited, I packed a new notebook and a fresh stock of pens and headed to The Leaven Center without any expectations.

Within those four days, the course of my life shifted imperceptibly in the moment but dramatically in the years to come. I made friends, connected with other women who held the same passion and energy for social justice and writing and sang show tunes around a campfire for the first time since childhood. I was changed. The Leaven Center, with all its natural beauty and positive energy, had reopened a love for life and writing I thought was gone and there was no closing it off again.

During the following year I edited and published a book of prose and poetry written by women in my initial writing workshop at Leaven. I also attended two more writing workshops in 2006 – meeting new people and feeding my inspiration each time. I came to understand how much I truly valued Leaven when I was presented the opportunity of serving on the core committee of the center’s inaugural fall fundraiser, Weaving the Threads of Hope 2006.

Serving on that committee was what put in motion the chance for me to serve as an AmeriCorps*VISTA at Leaven this year. It was through that commitment, which turned into a 20-hour weekly volunteer job at times, that I realized how vital the work done at Leaven is. I also discovered how much doing a job that serves others could energize me. This was an important realization for me because I was in-between jobs and searching for a new career path. Since then I have put my writing career in journalism into semi-retirement and am earning my therapeutic massage certification at Lansing Community College. I also am applying for graduate studies in social work at Michigan State University and University of Michigan.

While we were planning Weaving the Threads of Hope, Melanie asked me to consider applying to be an AmeriCorps*VISTA Member with placement at Leaven. Although I very much wanted to be part of the staff, I initially chose not to apply for this job because of financial reasons. But when Melanie came back to me later in the fall to once again encourage me to apply, the circumstances all but pushed me into applying.

I began my job here as Coordinator of Special Events in early January 2007. So far, I've collaborated with several disability rights organizations on a joint fundraiser called "Walk n' Roll," have organized house parties for Leaven, and coordinated a major "Carry the Dream" fundraising event on December 8, 2007. I feel the growth and change taking place within myself in working at The Leaven Center.

So it is with a full heart of gratitude that I look forward to serving Leaven throughout this next year and connecting with those who share my love and respect of this amazing place.