The Edmundite Missions Corps, which has put more than 70 volunteers and 120,000 hours of service into Selma and local communities, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a Memorial weekend reunion.

Thirty-five former volunteers from all over the country will be returning to Selma for the three-day event, which includes a service project, a community open house, a 5K run, a worship service, picnic and other activities.

Everyone is invited to attend the community open house from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, May 25, at St. Andrew’s Hall, next to Queen of Peace Parish, 309 Washington St.

“We’re excited to have this opportunity to get together and celebrate the gift of volunteering,” said Amy Fabricius, director of the volunteer program “Selma is a second home to many of the volunteers who have lived here. We hope the community will welcome them back.”

A native of Dubuque, Iowa, Fabricius has been associated with the Missions Corps for five years, two as volunteer and three as director of the program.

The Edmundite Missions Corps was founded in 1992 by Father Steve Hornat, S.S.E., as an opportunity for women and men to serve among the poor in an African-American community of the South. Most volunteers serve a year, giving 1,700 hours of service to the community. The corps is affiliated with the Edmundite Missions, based in Selma, which has been serving the poor in Alabama’s Black Belt since 1937. Volunteers served with the missions in the 1980s under the leadership of Diane Small.

On Saturday morning, volunteers will pick up shovels and get their hands dirty with a service project: landscaping the Selma Youth Development Center. On Sunday, volunteers begin with a 5K run/walk, followed by a Mass led by Father Hornat. A picnic at a local park will conclude the weekend reunion.

In the past 10 years, volunteers have served with city and state agencies, schools, private organizations, and Edmundite programs which address the housing, health, nutrition and educational needs of the poor in Selma and the Black Belt region.

Some of the services volunteers have given the community include ministry to persons living with AIDS, constructing and repairing homes, providing care and education to newborns and preschoolers, tutoring students and adults, visiting nursing homes, teaching music, dance, and the arts, working with the special needs of families, providing hospitality, and other ministries in the community.

Some of the schools and agencies served in the Selma area include Knox, East End, Clarke and Payne Elementary schools; the Selma Youth Development Center; Cahaba Mental Health; West Central Alabama Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center; Selma AIR Habitat for Humanity-Selma; Brown YMCA; the Selma Public Library; and the Dallas County Department of Human Resources.

Volunteers have also worked with Edmundite outreach ministries in Selma, Uniontown and Alberta.

In 1995, the corps expanded its service opportunities to Bishop Perry Middle School in New Orleans, an outreach to inner-city African-American boys, founded by the Society of St. Edmund. Volunteers also have worked with St. Peter Claver Parish and in other New Orleans ministries associated with the Edmundites.

The Missions Corps strives to challenge volunteers, most of whom are recent college graduates, to be more compassionate people, to work for justice, to be more conscious of the poor, and to live more authentic Christian lives.

The four founding principles of the Missions Corps, which volunteers live out during their 10-month commitment are: serving economically disadvantaged people, embracing a simple lifestyle, sharing a faith journey and living together in community.