WEBVTT

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Hi, everyone.

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Thanks so much for
coming to our LEAP panel.

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A few bees have joined us--

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thought I would announce
that just in case anyone

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is allergic out there,
looking at my mom in the back.

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[LAUGHTER]

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All right.

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My name is Carrie Clowers.

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I'm a senior here
at Mount Holyoke.

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I'm an English major.

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And I have a Nexus minor
in journalism, media,

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and public discourse.

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So today, I'll focus on four
aspects of my LEAP experience.

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And for the first-years and
sophomores in the crowd,

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I'll tell you a little
bit about how I found

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and secured my internship.

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I'll then tell you about the
organization I worked for,

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what specifically I did
there, what I learned,

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and then how that will inform
my plans moving forward.

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So a little bit about how
I found my internship--

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for the past three summers,
I've done various internships

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and nonprofit work located in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

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So my journey with
greeNest actually

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started two summers ago.

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Two summers ago
after my sophomore

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year, I actually worked under
a young Mount Holyoke alum

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organization called
World Relief,

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we were taught ESL courses
to refugees in my hometown.

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And while I was doing that, I
put in a few volunteer hours

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at an organization called
greeNest down the street.

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So last summer, after I was
approved for my LEAP funding,

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I reached out to the
founders of greeNest.

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And I asked if they would be
willing to create an internship

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position for me.

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They had not the internship
position in the past.

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But because they had met me and
knew what kind of work I did,

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they were willing to take me on.

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And so that's
something to consider

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if you're looking into an
internship in non-profit work.

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So a little bit about greeNest--

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there's a fire alarm
going off, not here.

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We're OK.

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A little bit about
greeNest-- it's

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located in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina.

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It is a relatively
young non-profit.

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It was founded in
January of 2015.

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So we're still in
our terrible twos,

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but it will be turning
three in January.

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And then their mission
is to help furnish homes

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for individuals and families
moving from unsafe living

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conditions into
sustainable housing.

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So how do they do that?

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When people are transitioning
into sustainable housing,

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oftentimes, furnishing
is an afterthought

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or it's financially
out of the question.

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And you can imagine them moving
into an empty apartment that

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doesn't have furniture, blinds,
curtains, cookware, dishware.

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It just doesn't feel like home.

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So by offering everything
from shower rings to sofas,

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greeNest strives
to become that link

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between the actual
acquisition of housing

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into truly independent
home living.

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So in order to do that,
greeNest accepts and repurposes

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donations from the
local community.

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And then we place
them into show rooms.

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And then clients
and participants

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from our partnering agencies can
come through with a caseworker

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and select what they
need for their new home.

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So up here, you can see
a few of our show rooms

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and some of the
objects that people

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have donated in the past.

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And so in our showrooms
as well, we also

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organize smaller donations
into premade packs and baskets.

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So when you're coming through
and picking out your bedding,

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you can have a
set of linens that

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match even if they came from
three different places--

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same with cookware,
dishware, and dining packs.

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So people come to greeNest
for a variety of reasons.

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And a lot of them have
various levels of needs.

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Some of the most common
reasons people come to greeNest

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are if they are transitioning
out of a state of homelessness,

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young adults aging out of
the foster care system,

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families recovering from
natural disaster relief.

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We cater to a large
community of veterans

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as well as refugee
families in the area,

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and then many survivors of
domestic abuse and violence

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fleeing their home situations.

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So I'll tell you a little
bit about my specific role

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within the organization
this summer.

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Because I did create
the internship

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alongside the founders,
I had a lot of freedom

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in what I wanted to do.

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So one thing I was
considering when

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I was outlining the
position was that I

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wanted to create
a position where

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I could see the
administrative management

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side of nonprofit work
without losing sight

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of the day-to-day footwork
and community interactions

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that drew me to nonprofit
work in the first place.

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So a few of my administrative
responsibilities--

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I attended board meetings.

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I created promotional
materials to aid

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in the strategic marketing plan.

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You can see the little
holiday card I made up there.

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I shadowed financial
meetings with

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a certified public accountant.

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I made spreadsheets of
our large-scale donations

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and their values.

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And I did a little bit of
fundraising and event planning.

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And then my day-to-day work,
I helped with office work.

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I managed the
furniture warehouse.

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I redecorated showrooms,
helped participants

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shop and select furnishing
for their homes.

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I gave tours of the organization
and interacted with donors.

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I helped field those donations
when they would arrive.

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So doing this type
of work has taught me

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a lot about how the
non-profits work,

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not only on a day-to-day
basis, but long-term as well.

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And more notably,
I learned about how

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non-profits in Winston-Salem
adapt to a growing need

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by working together.

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So 78% of the non-profits
in North Carolina

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reported a growing
demand for their services

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in the past year.

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So the question
became, how do they

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cater to that growing need
while maintaining budgets

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that are typically
static and volunteer

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bases that are not growing?

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And so I learned that in
order to cater to this demand,

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they call upon and
share resources

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with other non-profits
in the community.

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So that takes on many forms.

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Sometimes it literally
means trading or sharing

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physical resources.

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Sometimes it means sharing
intellectual material,

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advertising together, doing
strategic marketing plans

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in tandem.

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Sometimes it's referring
clients to partner non-profits

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when you run out of resources.

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And a lot of times,
there's a lot

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of trading volunteer
bases as well.

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So for the sake of
this LEAP presentation,

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I'm calling this observation
the nonprofit network.

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And I'm going to
tell you specifically

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how greeNest operates
within this network.

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So greeNest itself was
actually created and modeled

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after the Green Chair
Project in Raleigh.

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This is a great example of
sharing intellectual material.

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greeNest and the
Green Share Project

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both share a board member.

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They told us how
their organization

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started, how they grow it.

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We model our fundraising
events after theirs.

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And then we also do advertising
in tandem with them as well.

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We use Goodwill
and Habitat ReStore

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to trade physical resources.

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So when greeNest gets volunteer
donations that we can't use,

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we put them in these blue
bins, give them to Goodwill.

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And Goodwill in return
gives us gift cards

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to buy things we do need.

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Habitat ReStore
donates furniture

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that has been sitting in their
show room for a long time.

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And we redirect donations
to them as well.

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We helped to do a lot of
advertising and fundraising

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for the Shalom
Project this summer.

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And in turn, we got great
community visibility

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to help grow and expand
our volunteer base.

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And then, of course, we have
our partnering agencies.

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So up here, you'll
see that they cater

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to a lot of very
specific populations.

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We have a lot of
veteran associations

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that cater to people
with disabilities.

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You'll also see a lot of
religious organizations

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that help, not only with
clients but by providing

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volunteering youth
groups as well.

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You'll see both national
and local organizations.

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And many of our
clients would actually

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be in constant with multiple
organization at once.

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So it was interesting to see
how those non-profits kind of

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formed a web-like support
system, where each organization

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relied upon the next.

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And clients kind of
could rely on them

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to help fill the gaps that
public support programs left

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open.

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So that kind of leads
me to what comes next.

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My collective experiences
of working in non-profits

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for the past three summers
have illustrated to me

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the consistent lack of
governmental policies

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and program that
support those in need,

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specifically within my hometown.

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And it kind of
solidified my plans

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to go into the world of
politics after graduation

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to help grow those
public support programs

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and alleviate the
incredibly high need

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for these non-profit services.

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With that said, even
though non-profit work

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isn't what I want to
do professionally,

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it's something I hope
to remain involved

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with throughout the
entirety of my life.

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I am excited to go
home at holiday break

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to continue working with
greeNest for their holiday

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fundraising program.

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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