situations, like the time police officers tried to run her
from the very campus where she was a student, saying,
“homeless people are violent and dangerous.” One
professor let her, a photography major, keep her
camera in the professor’s office at night so it wouldn’t
get stolen. Another helped her get a scholarship and
a free room in student housing.
Out of gratitude, this college student asked her
professors what she could do to repay them for their
kindness. Each of them gave the same reply, “there’s
nothing you can do for me. Go find somebody else
who needs help, and go help them.” Taking this advice
to heart, she has dedicated the last three years of her
life to serving the homeless, all the while living at
the poverty line herself on a meager living stipend
offered through the AmeriCorps VISTA program.
Today she is a college graduate with incredible skills
that have transformed our organization’s ability to
communicate our message of hope with a much wider
audience through the contributions she makes to our
website, newsletter, brochures, and other materials.
In bringing the staff profile idea to me, she remarked
at what an interesting and unique group of people
make up the Our House team. She referenced several
people’s stories and reflected on them as illustrations
of the quality of people on our team.
In this is sue, we will roll out our first staff profiles. I
hope that at some point in the future she will allow us
to write a profile of her, and you will have a chance to
read her story and see how she herself embodies the
transformation and hope that Our House can provide.