Claire

Ah, what an interesting week! It’s getting closer and closer to decision-making time, and from what I hear there’s only one consensus: it’s going to be difficult to select the recipient of our funds. With this in mind, I asked Professor Grimm on the site visit to the Latin American Youth Center if we would be discussing how we were going to decide, as a class, on the final organization before we started discussing reactions to site visits and references. I’m concerned that somehow that we’ll all be strongly set on which organization we personally think deserves the $10,000, and if we haven’t previously established how we’re going to finally decide as a group, we’ll all try to suggest systems that favor one organization (our preferred) over another. And what’s more, it just occurred to me today that we may have trouble narrowing down past three non-profits! Scary thought. Exciting, too, I suppose.

I’ve only been on one site visit thus far, but from what I understand, most people’s experiences with leaders from these organizations have one thing in common: a clear demonstration of commitment to their work. It’s reassuring to see how invested these leaders are in their causes. One would hope, of course, that the person using such blood, sweat and time to better their organization would be dedicated to its worthy mission, but I still found my site visit this week refreshing and heart-warming. I was reminded on the trip that most of the adults that we’re meeting much like Andre Benepe, go above and beyond their official job descriptions each day. And generally, it’s because they care so deeply about what they do. It’s not for money or prestige.

These are role models. These are people who are encouraging us to get involved with their organizations, to be active parts of what they do for a living. Most of these organizations have opened their doors to us, whether for a day or for a year of involvement. But what about even longer periods, like making work in non-profit our careers? This class has opened a window into the lives of these strong, dynamic people who we respect and may some day want to emulate. I didn’t anticipate such an outcome from this class, but it’s certainly a benefit.

So. Do I have strong opinions about where I think our funds should go? Yes. But despite anticipating some difficult decisions in the near future, I am calmed by the growing knowledge that the organizations that we’re considering do wonderful, valuable work, and no matter what we will be investing in leaders who will carry out tasks and programs in which we all see the good.