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Amy Townsley's picture
Blogger: Amy Townsley

Amy Townsley joined the United Way of Greater New Haven as the Community Impact Coordinator and is very excited to work with the community in identifying community issues, goals, and strategies to improve people’s lives. Amy is a graduate of Hamilton College and earned her Master of Arts degree in International Relations from Boston University. Previously, Amy enjoyed her work as a Constituent Liaison for a Member of Congress in Connecticut.

She also was an ESL volunteer with Literacy Volunteers of Central Connecticut. Amy is eager to become involved in all that the Greater New...

What is Your Story?

Amy Townsley's picture

While our stories might be different, our experiences in overcoming fears and finding hope are probably a lot alike.  To that end, I would like to share a story that means a lot to me. 

Exhausted and dreading the idea of adding one more activity to my week, I justified maintaining the status quo-I could always take on something later.

I was looking for an “out” but was approached again about volunteering my time to teach English to two Polish speaking students. I felt uncomfortable taking on something new and didn’t want to be put on the spot. Uncertain, I relented.
 
Teaching idioms, sentence structure and pronunciation for two hours felt unbearable. Was I even doing a good job? What if they hated it? I immediately regretted my decision to volunteer as a tutor for the year. I left the library feeling deflated. Why did I think I could do this?
 
Showing up to the next class, I put on a smile although I wanted to run and hide. I spent hours preparing a lesson plan, but the familiar panic set in as I tried to engage the students in dialogue. And then it happened...the students began to laugh at me. At the end of the class, they attempted to teach me Polish and called me out on my terrible accent. This time, a genuine smile crept across my face as I realized how they felt. They were just as afraid.    
 
I soon looked forward to volunteering my time every week that year. It didn’t matter if I had a bad day because I could always count on spending several hours with two wonderful friends. We shared stories about our family and friends as well as our dreams. While I can only hope I helped them gain English skills, I know they helped me gain more confidence and perspective about what is important.
 
How has volunteering changed your life? What is your story?

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