After my first week at Heartland Human Care Services, I had already picked up on a trend of adaptation within the organization in the face of federal policy change. After a month, I have learned that the term “adaptable” fits no one more than the immigrants and refugees we serve. They come from countries all across the globe, fleeing war, persecution, and denial of human rights. Many of them do not speak English and are completely unfamiliar with American culture and infrastructure. I have met participants who are highly educated and professionally trained in their home countries, but unable to secure employment in the United States due to language barriers and lack of accepted credentials. All of them struggle through complicated bureaucratic processes to secure clothing, housing, and food for themselves and their families. As I work with participants who are constantly adapting, I have had to adapt too. My first week on the job, my supervisor and I […]

Calling and Purpose in Society, CAPS, this is what the fellowship is all about and how we, as individuals, find it within non-profit work. Over the course of the summer we have had some very thought provoking readings and discussions, in particular over Frederick Buechner’s idea that calling lies “where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet”. And now as I am wrapping up the final two weeks of this internship I turn back to it. Finding the world’s deep hunger is a very daunting task; in the current state of the world there are many hungers that need our attention. Erie Neighborhood House’s focuses on the hunger involving immigration and supporting the Latinx community and within Erie House, the READS program helps engage students in literacy work over the summer. To some this may seem like we are getting further and further away from the truly deep […]