The document reflects on the author's transformative experience during an internship at Catholic Charities, emphasizing personal and professional growth through challenges and learning opportunities. It highlights the author's evolving understanding of social service work, the importance of supporting colleagues, and the need for non-profits to empower clients in advocacy efforts. The author expresses gratitude for the lessons learned and acknowledges ongoing reflection as they continue to develop their identity and career aspirations in the social service field.

1. Tim Platten
Andrew Miller
EXPL 390
25 April 2018
Feeling Engaged at Catholic Charities
“All good things must come to an end” is a phrase that I have been told many times in
my life. Time does no favoring nor discriminating, it just is. Unfortunately, my “good” time at
Catholic Charities has come to an end and time does not care if I am ready or not. Although I
may not be again entering into Cancun, our disgustingly hot and stuffy, windowless office room,
what it has become to mean to me will be something that I carry forever. It was within that
room that I transitioned from intern to colleague, as my coworkers would put it, by being
challenged intellectually, emotionally, and professionally. Whether it was reading about the
privilege of being a white male in society to frantically trying to troubleshoot BidPal as a line of
guests waited to be checked in, this year has been a challenge. With that challenge though,
came many realizations as to who I am, who I want to be, and what matters to me in regard to
future career interests. It almost seems naïve to attempt to truly put into words all that I
learned this year and how grateful I am for it, but that is part of the reflection process.
One should not to be too quick to discount the great things that come from what is
originally upsetting. Going back to the very beginning of this program, this is the first lesson
that I learned. The Volunteer Relations position sat dead last on my ranking sheet when I
interviewed for this program and now I cannot envision myself having been anywhere else.

2. When I was first offered this position, I felt like the intentionality that I expressed in my
interview had not been heard. I felt like I had been slighted as the placement only reflected
where I have a lot of experience versus what career direction I wanted to gain experience in. I
talked so much about my past volunteer experiences in my interviews because that is what I
had a vast amount of experience in, but I also talked about how I wanted to step into a more
governmental affairs type position. This was a tough pill to swallow, but one that proved
exponentially important to my development. This experience taught met to always keep my
mind open while challenging myself to give even things that may not start off as appealing as
others, my absolute all. I cannot know for sure what certain opportunities will bring in the
future, but I do have a hand in making it.
Continuing with the lessons learned through the initial challenges of this internship, I
learned how to fully commit myself to learning new ways to do things. Although my internship
position is labeled volunteer relations, my volunteer experience that I hoped would prepare me
for this work did not in fact prove that useful. Rather, I would be relying on information systems
that I had zero to no experience utilizing. From Salesforce, BidPal, ConstantContact, or Excel
formulas, I spent hours troubleshooting and googling in order to get the work needed, done. I
could have easily given up—many times I very much wanted to—but I didn’t. Through the love
and support of my coworkers, I slowly became more and more successful and productive in this
work. It is impossible to know everything or be absolutely prepared for the work that must be
done, how you respond to failure and lack of knowledge will define your success in the world.
Organizations don’t necessarily want someone who has very defined skills that are suited only

3. for the position. They want people who are flexible and able to expand on skills to garner
continued success. This is something that I have learned through the combination of reflecting
on my work alone, with my fellow cohort members, and through the readings of the Successful
Internship.
A very seemingly minute detail that I feel like I grew exponentially in was my ability to
support my fellow coworkers. Considering that I was only there for 10 hours every week, it was
important to me that I found ways in which I would still solidify myself as a part of the Board
Relations & Mission Engagement team. I have never been good at receiving words of
affirmation, but throughout this year I have seen myself grow in my ability to support others
with them. A large part of this ability was adopted through learning from my fellow coworkers
and their love for this type of support. I swear that Marie spoke almost exclusively in words of
affirmation during all parts of the year, no matter how stressed we all were. Noreen and I had
love for this team bursting from their hearts and communicated it every chance they had. It is
something that I have attempted to model my own leadership style after, especially upon
reading the pieces about leadership in our class. This idea that management truly does revolve
around one’s ability to show genuine care for each other which is talked a lot about in the piece
by Caldwell.
It is almost redundant to talk about the deepening of my value for behind-the-scenes
work that has taken place over the past year because I have been going-on about it for so long
now. Nonetheless, it has been an absolute cornerstone of my experience at Catholic Charities.
Ignorance is bliss in many instances, but not in this one. Knowing what I do now about all the

4. work that humble people do to make social service organizations run effectively is both
stunning and positively intimidating. I say positively because it isn’t frightening, but rather
inspiring and motivating. Non-governmental social services play a key role in the American
social safety net and without people who are willing to dedicate their lives to these causes, we
would face even wider holes than already exist for our peers to slip through. As I continue my
discernment for my future career, I would be doing my disservice if I do not fully embrace the
love I found for the work that I did.
Not all social services work directly with volunteers, but those that do have an added
layer of valuable behind-the-scenes work. Those that work for the non-profits are creating
opportunities for meaningful growth and exposure to new, challenging ideas through their
opportunities for volunteers. I think this is especially true when you consider who is often
taking part in these volunteer opportunities, people of higher socioeconomic status. Exposure
to social problems can push people to think deeply about the causes of the problems and
solutions for them. It can push people to recognize their own privilege in this world while
encouraging them to do something about it. In a country where we are so polarized on how to
address issues, guided exposure can produce a more cohesive society in which people work
together.
The last significant revelation that I had about my value for social service organizations
is what I think they should be. Catholic Charities is in many ways an organization that addresses
the direct needs of its clients rather than addressing the causes of those needs and the long-
term problems that exist within our society. This alleged dichotomy between working for the

5. day-to-day and for long-term goals is far to prevalent in our society. In my presentation at the
Weekend of Excellence, I illustrated this through recalling on all the times in which there were
more people to be fed then we had food at Labre every week. Yes, it is absolutely essential that
we address the immediate problems of our brothers and sisters, but it is an injustice to not be
working for the greater good as well. This is where I believe that our non-profits have room for
growth. We should be utilizing the actual experiences and insights of the people in need rather
than leave it to people in offices to advocate on their behalf. The people experiencing
homelessness are assets to how we should be addressing the problems. A non-profit in
Cleveland called the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless has a “Homeless Congress”
where people actually experiencing homelessness can assist in their advocacy through
organizing. Finding a balance in these two can be hard, but only because they are not common
in our current society.
My thinking for this type of organizing stems from a combination of my observations at
Catholic Charities and my experience doing the asset map of Ohio City. Seeing clients as people
with no agency both dehumanizes them and denies them even the opportunity to sit at the
table where they themselves are being discussed. Through our discussions and work with asset-
based community development (ABCD), I want to create a system that encapsulates both the
addressing of need and the working toward a bigger solution grounded in the idea that the
“clients” are people with agency, or assets. The organization’s main goal should be to create a
society where they are no longer needed. ABCD taught me that the individuals of a community
have so much to offer and under-utilizing them is a disservice to all. In general, this type of

6. approach would prove useful in that it is building allyship through people with privilege aiding
others in their fight for social justice.
It is sad to say that I will no longer be walking into Cancun after this Friday. While the
door to Cancun may be closing on me for good, what I learned during that time will continue to
shape me as a student, coworker, and person. I have learned what it means to work in non-
profit and its reliance on donations. I have learned what it means to focus on the client’s
experience rather than any donor or volunteer. Much of this year has been a year of reflection,
but what I have realized recently is that I am by no means done reflecting upon the experiences
that I have had this year at Catholic Charities and in class with you all. There are many things
that I am still processing and things that will continue to develop through other experiences. I
feel like I found a little piece of me in that suffocating office at Catholic Charities, but I have
much, much more to learn. When I type my last word of this paper or when I leave class on
Wednesday, I will not be done learning from all the valuable knowledge I gained. My reflection
is not limited to these six pages or the presentation I gave at the Weekend of Excellence, but it
is a start. A start that I am truly grateful for and a start that I can’t wait to see what follows it.