From Volunteer to Employee
For years, I’ve been a volunteer at Freshwater Community Church in Waconia when they would host Families Moving Forward. I LOVE to cook! My family and I would plan out a tasty menu and serve on the day we were scheduled. Over the years, when other churches did not have enough people to cook a meal, I would receive a call asking if I could provide a meal and serve at that week’s congregation. It always has given me great pleasure. According to Luke 3:11, John the Baptist said, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” So with this instilled in my heart, it has always been a blessing to provide, and share with the families and volunteers. We’ve met some really incredible families during some of the toughest journeys in their lives, and I hope, even if for a ripple in time, my family brought some form of comfort through warm soup, bbq chicken, tacos, or a build your own ice-cream sundae bar.
I’ve always followed the Beacon/Families Moving Forward Facebook page so that I could read about the success stories as families gain employment and housing. It filled my heart with joy. In early December, Beacon posted a job opening for a Program Assistant at the Southwest Day Center. As I read through the description I knew I had some of the qualifications. So, on a wing and a prayer I applied.
I’ve worked at the Southwest Center since the middle of December. What a learning lesson it has been for the past couple of months! There is a HUGE difference from being a volunteer to being an employee. As a volunteer at a congregation, our responsibility is just to love on the families. As an employee, there are several different responsibilities, some I was not all that prepared for. I wear many different hats, including job counselor, driver, nurse, janitor, mover, and unfortunately sometimes referee. As a volunteer at the congregations you have very little knowledge of the families other than their names, allergies, and food preferences. Unless the families themselves talked with you about who, what, where, and why they are in the program, you had no clue. As an employee you know everything. At the congregations you really have no idea if all the families get along. As an employee, you are their sounding board for everything: who’s watching what on the TV; someone left their clothes in the washer/dryer and left; nobody is washing the dishes; and they are taking too long in the bathroom. He said/she said. As an employee, I am not hosting a dinner party for family and friends for one night. Instead, I am managing four different families, with four different values, four different ways of doing things, and up to sixteen different personalities, which are all in crisis mode, for up to 90 days. The families’ needs at the congregations are simple: food, sleep/bed, fellowship, and entertainment. At the day center their needs are more complex: employment, money, transportation, showers, getting kids ready for school, working the program to finally get into a home. For me, I try to keep the center as much as a positive home-like environment as possible. I don’t always succeed. Some days the challenges are so great, I just want to go home and beat my head against the wall. I have to remember that tomorrow is a new day filled with new promises. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” I reflect on these words daily, for guidance, so that I can in my words, actions, and presence, help our families.
There truly is no greater feeling when a family come to you and says, ‘I got a job, car, or housing!’ In most cases, the day the family leaves FMF is bittersweet. You grow attached to families. You stand by them in their darkest hour and you celebrate their victories. Their success stories are my small rewards too!
