Leadership

By: Melissa Trepa, Stefani Pacheco, and Jonathan Rosales

Defining Leadership:

Leadership is defined as a person or individual who commands a group, organization, or country.
In this circumstance, members of the Milwaukee Service team upheld leadership characteristics in our service organization by the services we partook in and through the student’s dynamic as a group throughout the trip.
These skills were upheld alongside the leaders who commenced the services the students participated in during the duration of the service trip in Wisconsin as student’s explored the services that help housing in the Milwaukee region. Possessing leadership skills are an essential skill to aid others in service as well as in life, which all the members of the Hawkeye Service Team worked on, advancing their leadership skills through this service.

The Cathedral Center

March 18, 2019

Acts Housing

March 19, 2019

Habitat for Humanity

March 20, 2019

Anna Treptow exemplified leadership as the volunteer development coordinator at the Cathedral Center by teaching our service group all about the shelter experience. At the Cathedral Center, their mission is to provide a safe environment for women and families while working to end homelessness one life at a time.

Anna Treptow shared this mission through her own experience in the field, and by valuing an educational conversation amongst the dialogue of the service team and the members of the staff students interacted with. Anna valued our service team’s input while developing a strong sense of understanding about those who enter the Cathedral, and did so by having open conversations with our team about our assumptions, our thoughts, and observations throughout the shelter tour.

Leadership skills that particularly accentuated our understanding about housing issues in Milwaukee was revealed through Anna’s willingness to take all the team’s input, and by having an open dialogue about the issues of shelters in the Milwaukee area, as well as by walking the team through the experience of a shelter physically through the Cathedral Center, as if we as individuals were in that same situation.

Anna valued the educational process of learning about communities in need, and her individual tour with our service group helped to establish a more personal connection to those impacted by homelessness and housing instability. By valuing education and communication, Anna exemplified strong leadership skills and allowed for strong learning to take place amongst all of our Hawkeye members that we as a team took away with us to the rest of the service centers we partook in.

**Photo from The Cathedral Center Facebook Page

The Friendship House

While touring the Friendship house, Anna Treptow introduced us to the coordinator for the Friendship House, leader, Christin, who manages the House,to show what else leadership can do. This program is similar to the goals of the Cathedral Central however, at the Friendship House, there happens to be a longer term plan for shelter for those in need before transitioning into permanent housing with the members who participate in the program for long term success.

Christin exemplified the role of a leader in our tour for the team and by sharing all the jobs she partakes in within her role as the coordinator for the Friendship House, despite it not always being a part of her job description. By wearing many hats in the nonprofit field, Christin exemplified the ways that a leader works to the betterment of the whole organization, beyond their own needs or desires in a selfless way. Christan does anything from cleaning beds to prepare to greet new families, to operating events, and financial programs for members for the program.

**Photo from Google

Leadership continued to extend itself in the field of service when the service team worked with ACTS housing to help a family upkeep their new home by doing some home improvements together. ACTS works to create empowerment through homeownership. Debra Maturo was the head volunteer who worked with the Hawkeye Service Team and helped represent leadership with her ability to connect the students to the home owners and to understand the continued relationships.

What is special about ACTS Program is that when the home owners finally own their home, the connection to ACTS doesn’t end. The program continues to support families after their initial experience, through work on the homes using volunteers and just overall cultivated relationships throughout the lives as they maintain the homes the program members worked to access and achieve. Debra Maturo helped connect the student volunteers not only to the home owners whose home was worked on, but connected us to her own story, and showed how strong relationships and teamwork cultivate strong leadership within the Milwaukee and Hawkeye communities.

While working with Habitat for Humanity, the endless efforts of all the regular volunteers and staff easily exemplified what it means to be a leader, through physical labor, team work, and commitment to the service of others Habitat taught the students of the service team what it means to do service for others without thinking of oneself.

The head leader of Habitat for our team was Jess Wolff, who coordinated all the tasks for the day amongst the rest of the volunteers and contractors. Jess along with the rest of the workers taught students and the other habitat workers new lessons and encouraged everyone no matter their skill levels. The team did everything from working on the entire roof, the gables, to working on windows and doors along with all the mulch on the site. Members of the regular volunteer members from Jeff to Michael all showed the service team what it means to be a team player by teaching students contracting lessons and taking turns building into the homes no matter what was left to do.

Summary

Through the work of all the service members, the service leaders of the organizations that students learned from, as well as the individual service team students, leadership was both learned and practiced for the betterment of the Milwaukee community and the service team members as they took the lessons back home to Iowa City. Through the efforts of leadership, work ethic and commitment to service resulted of both students and service leaders to extend more support to come.

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