In September 2019, Orthodox leaders from across the country gathered to discuss the crisis of homelessness. Many of those present discovered that we shared a related interest: The need for an Orthodox Christian volunteer corps. In response, the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America commissioned a task force to explore such an initiative.
Representatives from CrossRoad Summer Institute, Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Serve (FOCUS), the Neighborhood Resilience Project, Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC), Project Mexico, St. Basil Academy, and the Department of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical, and Interfaith Relations of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America began to meet to develop a new organization.
In August 2020, Orthodox Volunteer Corps (OVC) was incorporated, a Board of Directors formed in January 2021, and the IRS approved our nonprofit status in April of 2021. In October 2021, OVC became an official agency of the Assembly of Bishops.
Since then, we have grown quickly. We launched a full-time program in Pittsburgh in the Fall of 2022, added a part-time program in 2023, and expanded to a second city, Boston, in 2024. We moved from 6 to over 40 participants in our first three years. Join the journey with us.
OVC is grateful to be an official agency of the Assembly of Bishops and honored to be one of just six organizations with this formal status including International Orthodox Christian Charities, Orthodox Christian Mission Center, Orthodox Christian Fellowship, Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry, and Orthodox Youth Ministries. His Grace, Bishop Andrei, serves as our Episcopal liaison to the Assembly.
