A Journal Entry from Sheryl Garcia

The 2016 Shari Prestemon Social Justice Interns have graciously agreed to share their experiences with all of us. From time to time, we’ll be posting ‘journal entries’ from Sharell Shippen and Sheryl Garcia. Below is one of these entries.

There is something satisfying about doing a job and actually seeing the difference you make in a single work day…

The last two weeks have been my busiest yet! It also feels like time is flying by. How have I already been at Back Bay Mission for four weeks?! I do finally feel like I am a contributing member to this organization and that is an amazing feeling.

While I could write a book about my experiences just over the last two weeks, I think I will reflect on three occasions in particular: my time working with the work-camp volunteers, shadowing Roxanne, and assisting Lori with Quickbooks.

Last week I was able to go to one of the houses under the Housing Rehabilitation program and assist in fixing it up. I have honestly been looking forward to working with this program all summer. While I do not consider myself a “handyman”, the housing rehab program is hands on and by the end of the day you can actually see what difference you made. I spent the day painting and caulking and even climbed on the roof to paint some more; something I never in a million years thought I would do.

To my surprise, I am more skilled than I thought! Not only was I able to work on the house, but I was able to interact with the weekly volunteer group and the owner of the house. The excitement of the group after traveling down to Mississippi and getting up early each morning to work on a stranger’s house was refreshing, and with a new group each week things are always changing and different… in a good way.

Earlier this week Roxanne – who focuses on homeless outreach along with offering different services at the Micah Center – took me out with her while she did outreach. We started our day at Sea Shore Mission to help in any way they needed. We ended up reorganizing their donation room and talking with the lady who runs the whole operation. I look forward to coming back and working with them to serve their guests (who a majority of are guests of Back Bay Mission as well). Afterwards, we stopped at Feed My Sheep to pass out hygiene kits. Feed My Sheep is another organization that serves meals to those experiencing homelessness. I saw a wider variety of people at this location than I see every day at Back Bay Mission. At the Mission, a majority of our guests are older males, but that day we passed out kits to males and females ranging in age from 17-65.

By the end of our time there I felt an abundance of emotions that ranged from unsettled to sad. These people are no different than me or my family. I broke a little inside when I handed a kit to a 19-year-old girl who had been homeless for a week. A week… a girl not even a year younger than me is at a place looking for help because she is homeless. No, I do not know her story or the circumstances that led her to be where she is now. I do not even know what happened to her after we left, but all I could think about was “what if that was me?” What if my family was on the other side of the table looking for hygiene kits because they have no other way of getting them? I thank God every day for the blessings in my life and I could not be more appreciative of my family and support both here in Biloxi and across the US.

After my day doing outreach, I am sure now more than ever that my decision to go to school for Social Work and complete my degree is the right decision. Places like Back Bay Mission are making a difference in the world and I am eager to be a part of that effort.

The rest of my week was spent mainly helping Lori, who runs the financial aspect of Back Bay Mission, with organizing and updating her department. In Dallas, I worked for an Environmental Engineering group where I paid bills, balanced the check books etc., so when I found out Back Bay Mission uses the same software, I was both surprised (small world… ha!) and excited that I finally found an area where I almost completely knew what I was doing. I never would have imagined that spending three years using Quickbooks at my other job would come in handy here of all places, but I will take this knowledge and run with it! Hopefully by the end of the summer I will have helped the finance area and acquired more accounting knowledge that can in turn be useful when I go home.

Exciting things are starting to happen! Who knows what these next six weeks will hold?