Throwback Post: A Year of Service Begins

In honor of the new trend, Throwback Thursday, I'm going to be re-posting earlier posts from my time here in Florida that I kept on my other blog that I had started at the beginning of my time down here. I'll post 4-5 each Thursday until I've successfully transferred them all over to this blog! Enjoy a chronicle of the first half of my year!

*Throwback Post #1*

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So I'm now living in Florida, working with AmeriCorps and the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County. Despite the fact that Palm Beach County is one of the largest and richest counties in the nation, there is some severe poverty as well. This area has a lot of immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Guatemala, and other countries around the world. The huge mansions line one side of the street, while just down the road people struggle to survive without running water and constant electricity.

With this in mind, there are tons of opportunities for service and help! The 40 members in the program will be spread throughout the county working as graduation coaches, reading tutors, teaching English to adults, among other areas. As for me, I'm going to be working with an organization called The Lord's Place. The goal of this organization is to help those that are homeless break their cycle of homelessness by providing them with the necessary resources to find a job, create a resume, learn how to use a computer, and others.

My job title is that of an employment coach. I'll be working with two other teachers and will be running a 2 week employment skills class. There will be anywhere from 5-10 people in my classes each week, which will be quite the change from my classes in Seoul to say the least! I'm super stoked to work with a population that I haven't encountered yet. I know that the experiences, stories, and skills that I will gain from this experience will last for the rest of my life. I can't wait to get started and continue to grow as a person!