It was a few days after the longest road trip of my life and I was spending the warm June morning in the Richmond Public Library. I was officially still on my break although I was beginning to think about volunteering and non profit organizations. The one thing I knew when I was searching for non profit organizations to volunteer with was - I wanted to work on something that touched human lives - Right! Wasn't the very essence of most non profit organizations to touch human lives?? Ok, I needed something more focused and a little more concrete than that although I realized that I had a good enough reason to start off. Since I was on my break, I had every reason to take my time to figure out things! Over lunch, that day, my husband brought me a bunch of printed material that contained a list of non profit organizations in Richmond and little did I know that one of it was going to take me very soon to a step closer to touching human lives! Ofcourse the first thought that came to my mind was (remember I had lived near Boulder for several years...)Why did he have to waste so much paper? He could have just sent me an email with all that information!! I was looking through the sheets when VCU AmeriCorps caught both our attention and by that evening I had application forms from the organization.
I had never heard of AmeriCorps and what was this VCU AmeriCorps?? After several hours of research that would cause my head spin with information, I was convinced that this was a good organization to atleast send my details to. What was the harm in sending them my details and so I promptly did exactly that.
The first thing that impressed me (in a long list of things that would impress me about VCU AmeriCorps) was the application form. Very thorough and to top it, I was asked to write a short essay on why I chose to apply. Neat..In the next few days, I was at the VCU AmeriCorps office interviewing with the Program Director and a team (now former) leader! The office was very different from the work place I was used to and I kept telling myself - this is where my journey to touch human lives is going to start! The interview was very pleasant and for the first time in a few months, I was actually excited about the kind of professional opportunities this (volunteering) gig would provide me with!! I came away thinking - Wow - I never knew these things about education, especially elementary school education and two thoughts I left with after the interview were - I dont really know all that I will be doing but I think it will be pretty cool to be doing something related to elementary school kids and boy is this program pretty structured or what and thats what I needed - a structured introduction to working in non profit organizations!
A few days later, I had an offer for a part time team leader position. I was pretty excited - a volunteering job that actually paid a stipend and educational reward, the opportunity to work with and manage a team, work with school kids and to top it all off - it was part time!! I had lost much interest in going back to the stresses of my 15 hr work days which used to be a norm in my previous job and felt this opportunity was great and the timing could not have been better! But what was I going to do the next several weeks until the service year with AmeriCorps actually began.. Continue my break and enjoy the summer doing the things I had always wanted to do but never had time for!!
While on my break, I read a few interesting books on non profit organizations and volunteering but one book that actually inspired me and convinced me that I had indeed chosen the right thing to do by making a move from Corporate America to the social sector was "How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas". I would recommend the book to anyone who needs insights into the challenges and successes of the non profit world.
Just after the July 4th holiday weekend, I received a very nicely written up offer email from the Program Director and it struck me that if I took this position, I would be starting my journey towards a potential career in non profit organizations and most people I would work with in this position would be less than 10 years old! I knew I was ready for a change but as with all big decisions for most people, there was a lot of excitement and ambiguity for me although in my gut, it felt that I was going to make the right decision by going ahead and accepting the offer. Within a couple of days, I had accepted the offer and YES I was going to touch human lives and make a difference!
I had never heard of AmeriCorps and what was this VCU AmeriCorps?? After several hours of research that would cause my head spin with information, I was convinced that this was a good organization to atleast send my details to. What was the harm in sending them my details and so I promptly did exactly that.
The first thing that impressed me (in a long list of things that would impress me about VCU AmeriCorps) was the application form. Very thorough and to top it, I was asked to write a short essay on why I chose to apply. Neat..In the next few days, I was at the VCU AmeriCorps office interviewing with the Program Director and a team (now former) leader! The office was very different from the work place I was used to and I kept telling myself - this is where my journey to touch human lives is going to start! The interview was very pleasant and for the first time in a few months, I was actually excited about the kind of professional opportunities this (volunteering) gig would provide me with!! I came away thinking - Wow - I never knew these things about education, especially elementary school education and two thoughts I left with after the interview were - I dont really know all that I will be doing but I think it will be pretty cool to be doing something related to elementary school kids and boy is this program pretty structured or what and thats what I needed - a structured introduction to working in non profit organizations!
A few days later, I had an offer for a part time team leader position. I was pretty excited - a volunteering job that actually paid a stipend and educational reward, the opportunity to work with and manage a team, work with school kids and to top it all off - it was part time!! I had lost much interest in going back to the stresses of my 15 hr work days which used to be a norm in my previous job and felt this opportunity was great and the timing could not have been better! But what was I going to do the next several weeks until the service year with AmeriCorps actually began.. Continue my break and enjoy the summer doing the things I had always wanted to do but never had time for!!
While on my break, I read a few interesting books on non profit organizations and volunteering but one book that actually inspired me and convinced me that I had indeed chosen the right thing to do by making a move from Corporate America to the social sector was "How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas". I would recommend the book to anyone who needs insights into the challenges and successes of the non profit world.
Just after the July 4th holiday weekend, I received a very nicely written up offer email from the Program Director and it struck me that if I took this position, I would be starting my journey towards a potential career in non profit organizations and most people I would work with in this position would be less than 10 years old! I knew I was ready for a change but as with all big decisions for most people, there was a lot of excitement and ambiguity for me although in my gut, it felt that I was going to make the right decision by going ahead and accepting the offer. Within a couple of days, I had accepted the offer and YES I was going to touch human lives and make a difference!
