Meet the Students Who Volunteered with Us this Summer

This summer we were thrilled to have a host of high school and college students volunteer with us during their summer breaks. Whether they were helping in the kitchen, in delivery, or in the office, we so appreciate their hard and valuable work and hope they can join us next year!

This is Caroline’s first time volunteering with God’s Love we Deliver. While she loves the city, she travels from Bergen County, NJ when she comes into the office. She is a rising senior at Northern Highlands Regional High School and is excited about her last year. She first heard about God’s love through a fellow volunteer, and now joins us on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the volunteer office. Her day here consists of doing “office little things,” like mailing out letters and entering data in spreadsheets. While it may be considered little, her hard work does not go unnoticed.  She also loves to work in the kitchen as well as package meals to be delivered to our clients.

When Caroline isn’t in the office, she spends her time singing and acting. She also is preparing for the college admissions process this fall and the transition out of high school. We are sad to see Caroline go in August, but we are wishing her the best of luck throughout the college process and know that she has a great future ahead.

After finishing her first year at Colorado College, Sam joined us for the summer at God’s Love We Deliver. She spends most of her day in our volunteer office, helping to organize fundraisers, advocating God’s Love at community outreach events, and doing day-to-day office work. Additionally, she loves to be “out in the field” doing service work in the kitchen and walking deliveries with other volunteers. When she isn’t in the office, Sam teaches yoga in Westchester and gives private lessons in the city.  Sam says that while she finds her peace in teaching and practicing, “I am a city girl at heart—I think that is why I enjoy working here so much because I get to help spread more love through the city I love the most.”

Sam is currently a psychology major and political science minor and hopes to someday be a clinical psychologist that helps children with special needs get the help they need. We are sad to see Sam leave but excited to see where life takes her and hope she returns soon!

We were thrilled to learn that Austin wanted to join us for his summer after his first year at Wake Forest. Because Austin has volunteered at God’s Love for years with his family, we knew we could trust him with his familiarity of our facilities and service work. Austin has done great work for our office like designing the posters and shirt for our Race to Deliver run/walk event in November, organizing fundraisers, and working on other big projects. However, Austin is happiest when in the kitchen making a delicious meal to go out for deliveries.

Austin makes a daily attempt to know every worker and volunteer and never fails to make our office smile. He says that, “people here are delightful! I always leave the office with more energy than at the beginning of the day.” When he isn’t in the office, Austin enjoys riding his bike to work everyday and rock climbing on the Upper East Side.  He loves topics in political science and finance and hopes to study them in school, but any conversation with Austin is a sincere and interesting one. While we are sad to see him go, we know that he is on to do great things for the world and we wish to see him soon!

Jonas Stonebraker is a rising senior at Brooklyn Technical High School. Despite the predestined path you would assume one would undertake with a last name like his, he has no interest in becoming a geologist. He enjoys skiing, playing computer games, and learning about the history of 20^th century music.

Jonas has spent his time at God’s Love working with in the kitchen on Monday nights, as well as working with Emmett in the Communications Department to produce interview-based media for the organization. He feels profound admiration for all the work that the organization does to help those in need and is gracious for the opportunity to be a part of it! Through working with God’s Love, he feels he has gained a greater sense of understanding of how much behind-the-scenes work is required for an organization to meet their goals. He hopes to attend college after graduating.

It’s been a real joy to have Jonas work in two departments here, and he’s been such a teamplayer in both the kitchen and in Communications.

This is Juliet’s first summer at God’s Love, and her spirit has been nothing but energetic in the office. When she is has a task to complete, she always does it with a smile. When Juliet is not in the office, she likes to go down to the kitchen to help prepare the meals, package, and deliver. Juliet loves to work in the kitchen and along the volunteers, knowing that her work is making a difference in people’s lives.

When she isn’t at work, Juliet spends her summer catching up with home friends and new college friends from Muhlenberg College. While we are sad to see her go, we know she will have another successful year and hopes she returns next summer!