My Internship Experience

My name is Michael Lee, I am a Senior marketing major, Communication Minor at Stonehill College.  2013 has been an exciting year for me between studying abroad in Rome earlier this year, to living in New York City for an advertising agency internship, and now here at United Way of Greater Plymouth County as the marketing intern. 

I wanted to intern at UWGPC to bolster my resume with another marketing internship.  But I feel that I have gotten so much more out of my experience than that.  I really had no idea what to expect from working with a non-profit because I simply had no prior experience working in the non-profit sector.   

Without working at UWGPC or any other non-profits, you would have no idea the amount of challenges that they have to overcome.  I wrote a blog earlier this year about Dan Pallota’s TED talk about “how we think about non-profits all wrong.”  It’s true; non-profits have the most limited resources yet the most restrictions.  With all of the restrictions the need for volunteers has never been more important.  And that’s where I came in for UWGPC.

My intern duties included taking charge of the social media presence for UWGPC, designing and sending out our Constant Contact e-newsletters, conducting site visits with United Way’s partner agency interviews and writing articles.  I feel lucky that I was able to learn many different important skills that I’m going to be able to use in any area of the business world.  I especially loved the agency visits to other partners like the Family Life Center at the Y, the Brockton Area Workforce Investment Board, and Mayflower RSVP.  The visits are interesting as you get to see all of the challenges that the agencies have to deal with everyday as well as the positive impact that they have on the local community.  Some of the things that I saw at these local non-profits are things that I will remember for the rest of my life. 

I want to personally thank all of the dedicated UWGPC staff especially Kim Allen who was responsible for making sure I always had work to do and teaching me a lot of the valuable skills needed to complete all of the marketing intern tasks.  I couldn’t recommend this internship enough to anyone looking to learn important skills needed to succeed later in life. 

Senior Healthy Living with Mayflower RSVP

Darcy Lee has been Executive Director at Mayflower RSVP for just over a year.  With a small, but dedicated staff of only three people (two full-time and one part-time) she has certainly had her hands full since taking the lead.   She has already made major improvements, including raising the agency’s visibility in the community, creating new programs and devising a plan for the organization’s future!

All of Mayflower RSVP’s volunteers are over the age of 55 and many have active and busy lives.  Volunteering is sometimes one of many things they do.   With RSVP’s liability insurance the seniors are fully insured for any volunteer work that they do; a major selling point with most of these volunteers.   Volunteers make an impact when they help out in the community, and by doing so, also contribute to their own well-being.  According to Darcy, “We provide volunteers with a variety of different opportunities.  Seniors can choose between one day, short-term, or long term assignments.  For example, one volunteer may spend a few hours helping to stuff a mailing, while another spends an hour a week tutoring a child." Mayflower RSVP volunteers are all members of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s (CNCS) Senior Corps.  Along with other CNCS programs, like Americorps, Senior Corps volunteers are part of a national volunteer movement. 

“We provide volunteers with a variety of different opportunities.  Seniors can choose between one day, short-term, or long term assignments.” –Darcy Lee

(Michael Lee Marketing Intern at UWGPC and Darcy Lee Executive Director at Mayflower RSVP)

Volunteering has huge health benefits for seniors.  Research has shown that volunteers live longer because volunteering can provide seniors a sense of purpose.  It is also a great way to stay connected and active in the community in which they live.   As the population in America continues to age (1 in 5 Americans will be over 60 by 2030) it is becoming more important to find different ways to keep our seniors volunteering and healthy, and Mayflower RSVP allows them to    do just that! 

United Way of Greater Plymouth County funds two of Mayflower RSVP initiatives.   The first is called “Hunger Among Homeless” where senior citizens can volunteer in cooking, transporting and distributing food to local homeless individuals and families.  The second is the “Senior Healthy Independent Living” initiative.  Volunteers visit seniors who can’t physically leave their home check in on them, bring them Meals on Wheels, check on their safety and well-being.  Darcy says, “for some of these seniors the RSVP volunteers are the only people that they have regular conversations with. “

Darcy has also created an innovative program in which senior volunteers, who are also war veterans, can send letters to current soldiers overseas and thank them for their service.   As these letters come from someone who has served for our country in the past, it means a great deal to the soldiers defending our freedom!