Volunteer Relations Intern

During the 2013-2014 school year, I participated in the Social Justice Internship Program, a year-long, 300 hour internship experience. I was placed at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago as the Volunteer Relations Intern. As the intern, I managed volunteer applications, assisted with administrative duties and helped with service events. One of my main responsibilities was to organize and serve at the Tuesday Night Supper, which provides a hot meal to 130 men, women and children. I worked with community partners, clients and volunteers regularly. In addition to the supper program, I worked on the Celebration of Giving, a sponsor-a-family program and toy drive that serves over 600 families during the Christmas season. I worked on the preparation of Celebration of Giving as well as actually sorting and distributing the presents. I also had the experience of working in the Homelessness Prevention Call Center, a hotline that provides financial aid and resources for those experiencing homelessness. I was trained to answer calls, assess a person's crisis and communicate effectively with clients. As a growing department, Volunteer Relations recently launched a new web-based application called VolunteerBridge. The VolunteerBridge provides a centralized place for volunteer opportunities of Catholic Charities. I worked to populate the site with volunteer opportunities by calling different sites around Chicago and asking about their service opportunities. It was great to be a part of something new and something that has great potential to simplify and expand volunteering in the future. 

Interning with the Volunteer Relations department at Catholic Charities gave me a valuable opportunity to mix service and nonprofit administration together. I learned the importance of volunteer management and event planning too. This experience allowed me to gain great insight into the workings of a large nonprofit business. I experienced firsthand social justice issues such as homelessness and hunger. Seeing the diversity and scope of the clients that Catholic Charities serves forced me to think about my method of ministering and how I can be a presence or voice for them. My experience at Catholic Charities gave me background in nonprofit administration as well as a push to be more civically engaged in combating the social injustices of society.