I recently tweeted about setting up some computers that were being donated to some very lucky GED students, and that it was one of the reasons I work for a non-profit. I see this job as my opportunity to give back to some of the organizations that helped me out when I needed it. Yes, it’s a non-profit and the pay isn’t the best – and yes, I’m overeducated for my position. But one of the things I love about my job is that I’ve found a way to use my IT education and skills to assist others – and give them opportunities I didn’t have.
There are a lot of people to thank for getting me to where I am today. I often say I raised two kids on my own, on jobs that paid minimum wage or just barely over it. But I didn’t really do this totally on my own. I had a lot of help – from my parents and a whole lot of non-profit folks.
Because I worked a lot of hours on weekends, for about four years, my parents had both kids all weekend, nearly every weekend. If they had plans to go out of town, we made alternative arrangements. For the biggest part though, it was Mom and Dad all the way. When things broke at my house my dad was right there to help me learn how to fix them. Note: he always helped me. He never did it for me. He believed very strongly that I needed to learn to do all those things for myself. That’s how I learned about plumbing, heating, hanging drywall, finishing concrete… the list goes on. There were times my folks helped me out financially too – so let it be said I owe them, big time. And I do what I can for them.
When my son was 5, I enrolled him in Head Start. Beside the fact that it saved me a whole bunch of money on child care, it also provided him with a boost that carried him all the way through school. Yes, I really believe Head Start made a difference in my son’s life. I regret that we lived in San Antonio United Way gave my kids a quality program for a summer. We also benefitted from other United Way summer programs in other years. For a long time, I’ve donated money every year to United Way . I’m sure I’ve paid back their assistance dollar-for-dollar by now. I’ll continue to give, in the hopes that more people can be assisted and can better their situations.
Another program that really helped us during that time was Liheap. The program provided funds for heating our little house in the wintertime. And the Weatherization program did a great job of weatherizing my home and reducing my heating costs.
When I went back to school, Pell grants got me through the first few years. After 2 years of school, I was able to elevate myself beyond “minimum wage”. The next step was to find an even better job. The non-profit opening came up 9 years ago. It’s been a win-win situation. Not only do I have the opportunity to give back to some of the programs that provided me with assistance in those oh-so-lean years, but I have a great job that offered me the time to continue my education. Though my employer did not fund my education, I was able to combine my projects for various courses with projects we needed at the workplace. This provided me with the ability to reduce the amount of time I spent on school work after my workday ended. The end result was that both my employer and I benefitted from my coursework.
Early on, I wondered how I could leverage my IT education and experience to assist others who wanted to better their situations. Working at a non-profit has been a way to do this… I provide support to the workers who make a difference in people’s lives every day. And occasionally, I get to do something that provides direct assistance, like repurposing computers for people who are looking at education as a way up.
When I make the next step in my career path, I hope to find another way to give back to these programs. After all – if it weren’t for all of them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
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