Longmeadow native knew he wanted to volunteer overseas

Date: 12/22/2008

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



LONGMEADOW Catholic Relief Services (CRS), founded in 1943 by the Catholic Bishops of the United States to serve World War II survivors in Europe, now serves more than 80 million people in over 100 countries.

Matt McGarry, a Longmeadow native, is one of the volunteers with CRS who has helped make a difference in this world.

Growing up, McGarry was a member of St. Mary's on Longmeadow Street. He graduated Longmeadow High School in 1996 and the University of Notre Dame in 2000 with degrees in international relations and Spanish.

Following college, he volunteered with Jesuit Volunteers International in Nicaragua from 2000 to 2002. "I just knew it was something I wanted to do," McGarry said. He lived in a community with other volunteers, aiding Las Hermanas de Zion (the Sisters of Zion) by setting up a cafeteria for malnourished children and establishing a microcredit revolving door loan project for women in small business.

"The community was an amazing place," he said. "There were incredible, hard-working women in that community for years."

Upon his return from Central America, McGarry was awarded a fellowship from Fordham University for long-term overseas volunteer work. One of the terms of the fellowship was that he apply for a position with CRS, which is how he got involved with that service organization.

He started his volunteer work overseas in Africa, working with those suffering from HIV and AIDS and helping those in need with emergency food assistance while in Zimbabwe. He's also worked in Sudan, both in the nation's capital, Khartoum, and in Darfur.

"It was challenging [working in Darfur]," McGarry told Reminder Publications, "but the work itself was engaging and immediate. It was a very dynamic operating environment. It's been frustrating to see the situation deteriorate over the years. The work we were able to do made things less bad."

While there, he helped refugees with food, shelter and waterworks.

In 2006, McGarry moved to Pakistan, where he became head of the Kashmir office. Kashmir is a region on the northern border of India and in northeastern Pakistan. Here, he helped people rebuild after the earthquake that struck the area in late 2005. Most of work was focused on reconstruction efforts, teacher training and building up waterworks.

From there, McGarry moved to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, where he served as a country representative to CRS before becoming the country representative for Afghanistan.

McGarry is in charge of a staff of 315, whom he calls "an extraordinary bunch of colleagues."

When asked if working for a Christian organization in an Islamic nation was difficult, McGarry replied, "The country is 99.9 percent Muslim, but we don't do mission work there. We don't try to convert. Our religion only comes into play with its guiding principles."

The work that he and CRS do in Afghanistan is focused on long-term development of the country. Though the work is slow, the organization has already seen positive developments in water and agricultural works.

"Our work is a very small drop in the bucket of a larger effort," McGarry said. "We have to measure this development in years, not months."

CRS has had a presence in Afghanistan for six years, and McGarry thinks they will be there for a long time to come. He himself plans on working there for at least a few more years.

"I just go where I'm needed," he said.

Those interested in supporting McGarry's work in Afghanistan or any of CRS' projects worldwide are encouraged to visit the organization's Web site at www.crs.org. Click on "Donate" and then "Project Catalog" to give to a specific project.