Lauren Magee has been with the Good Shepherd Volunteers for the last two years. She completed her first year of service in a New York City rapid-intervention diagnostic center for youth entering the foster care system, then moved on to work at Hands of Hope, an income generating project that provides dignified employment for villagers living with HIV/AIDS in Nongkhai, Thailand.

In 2015, she received a bachelor's degree in biomathematics from Loyola Marymount University, where she was on the executive board of the Gryphon Circle Service Organization, leader and participant on Alternative Break Trips, and heavily involved in the St. Columbkille School located in South Los Angeles. She plans on entering the emerging field of social statistics to combine her passions for social justice, relationship-building, research, and mathematics.

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The pages written during a year in Thailand

Aug 23, 2017

Notes from the Field - My heart was called to the Nong Khai community in a way that I still can't explain. It was as if a part of me had to be claimed here for me to be whole.

You can find God in all spaces at all times

Jul 26, 2017

Notes from the Field - I spent my last week in silence at the Seven Fountains Jesuit Retreat Center in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I'm not intimidated by silence, but eliminating language, technology, and many of the comforts I rely on in Nong Khai made this week uniquely challenging.

Hands of Hope has broadened my definition of strength

Jul 12, 2017

Notes from the Field - Our producers are a powerhouse group of women whose internal strength is seen in the way they carry others and continue to be resilient when encountering trauma.

In art therapy, we bond without the pressures of language

Jun 21, 2017

Notes from the Field - I hear patients in a new way when they speak through their art, and it allows me to see nuances in their personalities that would otherwise go unnoticed.