Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitality
North American Volunteers

Health/Age: Adult volunteers must be in good health and between the ages of 18-65 to officially serve.

Time Commitment: A commitment of one week of service is necessary to volunteer at Lourdes. While offering volunteer service, it is essential to be present each day, as committed. The average hours of service per day are 6 to 8 hours, sometimes less and during busy seasons, sometimes more.

Language: Truly, the international language of Lourdes is a smile! Bi-lingual and/or multi-lingual skills are greatly appreciated, but not required. The variety of languages spoke in Lourdes is delightful to hear, but at the same time can become a challenge in communication. The generous gift of God's love transcends all languages. The ready smile, helping hands and silent loving welcome is immediately recognized by a person in need. The sincerity and genuine caring LOVE evident in the eyes and faces of Lourdes volunteers is an integral part of the example of Bernadette and the story of Lourdes.

Experience: No experience is necessary, but a sincere desire to serve those in need is required. True charity and genuine commitment to be of service bridges any lack of practical experience in providing pilgrim assistance. Health care professionals can provide practiced skills to assist as needed. Home care providers and loving family members often bring inherent practical experience to assist wherever is needed.

Priest Reference: Since most of the volunteer positions at Lourdes are not only physically, but also spiritually demanding, a Pastoral or Priest referral and a recommendation are required to serve as a volunteer at Lourdes.
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St. Joseph's Mens Service: Each St. Joseph volunteer is assigned to a team for the volunteer week. Volunteers can be assigned to a full range of tasks offering varied interaction with pilgrims. It is possible to be assigned to serve at all of these capacities, therefore flexibility is integral to this volunteer service. Duties include welcome and transfer of pilgrims at the train station and airport, transport of pilgrims to the Accueils, maintaing prayer and order outside the piscines, bath attendant in men's piscines and crowd management at the Eucharistic and Candlelight processions. Schedule varies daily depending on assignment and volunteers can be assigned to more than one volunteer service daily.

Adult North American volunteers can stay at Lourdes Hospitality dormitories. There are several dormitories available to volunteers, however, we generally intend to stay in one of three facilities: Ave Maria, St. Gabrielle or Salle Bernadette.

Ave Maria: A volunteer dormitory providing clean and modest rooms with the self-service dining hall cafeteria available on the first floor. Dorm, twin and single bedded rooms with sinks are available. Several private shower rooms and private bathrooms are provided on each of the four floors for residents.

St. Gabrielle: A women's volunteer dormitory exclusively for Piscine volunteers located near the Missions overlooking the River Gave. Twin and single bedded rooms with sinks are available. Two private shower rooms and two private bathrooms are provided on each of the two floors for residents. A full kitchen is also available on both floors for shared usage.

Salle Bernadette: A men's dormitory located just outside St. Joseph's Gate, above the St. Bernadette video presentation theatre. Single and twin rooms with full bathrooms are available.

Cafeterias: Self-service cafeteria dining is available at two cafeterias. St. Michel Cafeteria is near St. Michael Gate. All three meals are offered at specific times with some allowances made to accomodate very early or late St. Joseph's volunteer service. Ave Maria Cafeteria offers the same meals and service times as St. Michel.
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