Last Entry/Reflection

I can't believe that I have been at Red Cross for nearly eight months. I feel like I have learned so many skills that will help me in the future. I have learned all about the dynamics of a huge nonprofit, but I more importantly have learned about the people who make Red Cross possible. So much work goes into this organization and I think a lot of that goes unnoticed. People volunteer their time to do things as mundane as surveys and records, but that is what makes Red Cross amazing. Everyone that works their is passionate about helping people, even if they don't directly deal with them. Every little thing that is done in the office helps to create the services that Red Cross is known for.

I have to admit that when I first started this MPA I wasn't exactly sure that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I have always been interested in nonprofit and have volunteered throughout my life, but this has shown me that I want a career in the nonprofit sector. I want to make a difference for people. There are always going to be disasters that leave people with nothing, but nonprofits help to lessen the blow of even the most tragic incidents. It has been an eye opening adventure for me. I have talked to people that have lost their belongings, homes and even family members. Some of these people have no one they can turn to. It is hard to imagine that this is a reality for so many people. But I think the first step to making a change is accepting that this is reality.

The Difficulties with a Client Based Job

I have had more trouble than usual today trying to get through to clients. It becomes very frustrating because they are emotional and upset, as anybody would be after a disaster, and sometimes that makes it hard to ask the tough the questions and get the information we need. We do offer rental assistance for certain clients on a case-by-case basis. However, we have to get documentation on how much their last rent was, how much they can put towards the new rent, the new rent per month, a signed lease and a landlord verification. We ask that the client obtains all of this and then send it to us because we want them to be very active in their recovery. We really want our clients to be motivated to do their best at rebuilding their life after the disaster. Many of the clients are still overwhelmed and scared and this makes it hard to get some of the information. You have to be extremely sensitive to their situation, but you also have to be able to get the information you need to help them. Sometimes this requires calling everyday and asking them the same questions until it really sinks in that we can't offer assistance without this information. I think it is so difficult for the client to have to do so much additional work when they have lost their home, belongings and somtimes even family members, but we have to do it like this to make sure that they took an active role in their recovery.

What Red Cross has Taught Me

I think that this internship has prepared me in many ways for a career in the nonprofit sector. I have gotten to learn a lot about dealing with disaster clients and how to deal with people who are at one of the lowest points in their life. It can be difficult, but I think that this is something I want to continue to do. I enjoy making a difference in a client's life and being there for them when they have no one else. I have also learned a lot about how a nonprofit operates and how volunteers interact with paid staff to create a unique environment. I have also seen many people go above and beyond what is expected of them to get the job done right and I think this is especially important in nonprofits. I have also gotten to see how the budgeting and financial processes work in a nonprofit. I get to see how we make money by doing first aid, cpr and other similar classes and also how we give out money by being a client caseworker. I have also learned a lot about responsibility because client's depend on me to be reliable and give them information they can count on. I have to make sure that my references are up to date and that I am doing all that I can to make a client's life easier. I certainly think this will help me to be successful in a nonprofit in the future.

Making Casework Easier

One of my fellow caseworkers is compiling a manuel that all the caseworkers can reference for how to fill out all the different forms and advice on speaking to clients. I think this is so wonderful because it can get really confusing, especially when your a new caseworker. We have forms to fill out for all the different kinds of assistance we offer and it can get intimidating because you don't want to mess up on something that has to do with finances for our clients. I hope this will help alleviate some of the stress from the supervisors who have to train all of the new volunteers. I think this will really help everyone out. There is a lot of work that goes into being a caseworker and it will be nice to have something to refer to when we are unsure of how to do something. However, in any job that deals with clients, there is never one way of doing something. There often isn't a uniform answer or response we can offer for all cases. We have to go on a case-by-case basis and react in a way that best suits that specific client.

The Pros and Cons of a Volunteer Based Organization

I have mentioned on here before that Red Cross is made up of mostly volunteers. I think it is close to 97% volunteers and this has some really great benefits for the organization. One of them is that the people who work there really want to be there. If you aren't getting paid, then you have to truly be passionate about it to be spending your time there. Another benefit is that the organization can spend money on the services they provide.

However, there are some drawbacks to having volunteers run an organization. A lot of the people come in whenever they can, which isn't the same as having a regular work schedule. It is harder to catch people at a time when they are available. This also makes it hard to fix mistakes that happen in the office because often that person is not in the office to consult with. I know this also creates stress for the staff because they have to deal with so many different people.

Easy Day

This is going to be a really easy day at Red Cross. I finished everything I needed to do within the first hour of getting here. Sometimes we get pretty slow with the contracts. It takes me about 10 minutes to do each one and some days we only get three or four. I wish there was more for me to do, but I can't really help that. I think that everyone is so busy here that it takes more time to show someone else how to do something than to just do it themselves. One of my supervisor's told me that this is why they don't have that many interns here because it takes so long to train someone how to do the job and then interns are only here for such a short time. If an intern is only going to be here for a few months, then by the time that they learn how to do everything they will be ready to leave.
We do have internet courses that help take some of the training pressure off of the staff, but even after you complete those courses it still takes of a lot of time and questions to actually get it right. There are so many different programs that we use to handle the cases and contracts that it takes a while to get the hang of everything. It is especially difficult in casework because you are dealing with people, so there is no standard way to do everything. Every case is different and has a unique set of challenges and the only way to get better at it is to really study the cases and get to know the clients.

What I love about Red Cross

First of all, I love any nonprofit that devotes so much time, energy and money to helping so many people, but Red Cross really goes above and beyond to help out. Some ways Red Cross helps people are really simple, like contacting someone's relative in the army and giving them a message, and other ways are little more complicated, like helping someone recover after a disaster takes place. We all work really hard at all of these things to make it work. A lot of the people at Red Cross are volunteers and they devote so many hours each week to helping make all these services possible. It amazes me that so many people want to volunteer their time to help out. A lot of the tasks seem daunting and draining, but people still want to do them without pay. I think it's really great that so many amazing people exist that don't need to be receiving a paycheck to do help out.