Overall Internship Experience

Describe your overall internship experience. My internship was through Lutheran Child and Family Services. I was assigned different duties ranging from working at the pantry to assisting in making the holiday projects a reality. When working at The Sharing Place food pantry I served clients by taking their information and sometimes loading their vehicles with a box of non-perishables, fresh produce, and dairy. Every Wednesday I assisted one of the associates in driving to pick up donations from local stores. One key impact I think I made at the Sharing Place is connecting with volunteers and being assigned the task to get them signed up on a new volunteer database. The holiday projects consisted of a Thanksgiving Bag Give-A-Way and A Christmas Store for families in need. For both of these events I was assigned to edit and send out a form to get the clients information. I had to update social workers with information and reminders to sign up their clients and I also made and sent out flyers to local churches for donations and to volunteers to get them signed up to work The Christmas Store. One thing that is coming up that I'm really excited for is actually going out and shopping for the toys/gifts for the families. My main goal for any job that I have in the future is to help and make a difference in someone's life and I know that these events will really help these families make their holidays better. During this experience I worked about 200 hours. I was offered a position to continue with LCFS and I am very excited to continue to keep contributing to this amazing organization. I believe I was an asset to this company, because any task that I was given I really tried my best on. If I didn't know how to do something I would seek clarification. I would say the biggest asset I bring to this organization is being bilingual. There were many instances at The Sharing Place when a family that only spoke Spanish would come and when they realized they could communicate with me they were really happy. I think having programs that are inclusive to as many people as possible is key.

Examine your experience. I believe this isn't the direct field that I would want to continue to pursue long term, but I am grateful for this opportunity. I love this experience so far and I am excited to continue this journey and learning opportunity. I would like to see myself in more of a clinical setting actually managing a department or hospital one day. This experience has helped me realize that I do in fact love helping people. It has also made me think more about pursuing a career in non profit. I think this experience has opened my eyes and made me realize that one path is not the only path to help me be the person I want to be. Moving forward in my career I truly believe that skills I learn in this internship will be great assets for future opportunities. I think I could make great long term connections with this internship and it could even lead me to a career that I haven't really considered yet. Overall, I'm very grateful for this opportunity and I can't wait for what the future brings.

Articulate learning. I learned that helping people is not all about the health care field. Clients that come to the Sharing Place are so thankful and truly appreciate each volunteer working. Personally I think I have grown with getting out of my shell a little bit. I think working with volunteers and having to converse with new clients everyday has made me be more open and learn how to start conversations. I have grown professionally by learning how a food pantry is run and the different things that go into making it happen. I have also learned how to communicate virtually and how to send more professional emails. I learned these things by both being observative and using them first hand. In light of this learning I would like to be more outgoing and put myself in awkward situations. I think by doing this I will get more and more comfortable and it will help me in my future career. As a health administrator there will be many occasions where I am put in a place that isn't comfortable and the more experience I have, the easier it will be when the time comes.