Emily Heaton
Boston, MA
As the holidays approach and I begin to reflect back on the past four months of my year of service with AmeriCorps, I start to think about what has changed in my life to make these past weeks significant. I’m serving this year at Adoption & Foster Care (AFC) Mentoring, a mentoring program which works specifically with youth who have experience in the foster care system. I enjoy serving at AFC every day; I actually look forward to it, and know that I may be part of a small percentage of people who can say that about their work. I think this has to do with the affirmation of my belief in “job hunting” after college--that I needed to do something where, even if I couldn’t see tangible results from my work--I could feel I was contributing my work week to creating positive change in the world, and in our country. I think that joy is also a product of feeling good about the choices I made in becoming an Ambassador of Mentoring. I moved across the country, to a city where I knew no one, where I had never even visited. And while, at times, that has seemed scary, it has more-so turned out to be a source of excitement and happiness.
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| Ambassadors of Mentoring - Patricia, Stephanie, Lise, and Nate |
Since moving to Boston, I’ve had the chance to share new experiences with new friends, work on exciting projects like planning Youth Mentoring Day at the Statehouse with my fellow Ambassadors, and learn about myself in the process. I already feel that I’ve grown as a professional, that I’ve gained valuable experience in non-profit organization, recruitment, marketing, and communication. I’ve been able to give three information sessions for potential mentors, learn from experienced and knowledgeable staff at AFC and Mass Mentoring Partnership, and work on planning field wide projects as part of a team. And I know these experiences will be extremely important and helpful in the future.
One of my favorite things about working at AFC is that we work with a specific population: youth in foster care. Before entering my year of service, I couldn’t have told you much about foster youth. I couldn’t have told you that the majority of youth in care move at least once a year, or that half of 18-20 year olds with experience in foster care end up homeless. I couldn’t tell you how important my childhood full of small things like traditions and consistency was. Now, as I travel to Illinois to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family--my BIG family, full of a Grandma, aunts and uncles, siblings, parents, and cousins--I find myself feeling bittersweet at the thought that I have so many people supporting me. I know that’s a large part of the reason I’ve been able to successfully transition this past year. I have a lot of people I can count on. I think it can safely be said that I didn’t quite realize the power of that until I started serving as an Ambassador.
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