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Harvard Square Summer Shelter Essay

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In your opinion, what skills and qualities that you learned from your previous experiences will prepare you for a position as Director of the Harvard Square Summer Shelter? I believe that my main qualification is that I served as a supervisor at the Harvard Square Summer Shelter during the summer of 2015. I not only learned how the summer shelter functions but also gained experience in overseeing volunteers and case managing. Secondly, I continued to volunteer at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter as a devoted member of the street-team. I handed out resources, including food, beverages, clothes, and shelter information to people around the square and got to personally know everyone who stay regularly in the Harvard Square area. This experience …show more content…

My experience from last summer has impacted me significantly and has inspired me to pursue a higher position. I am still in contact with two guests from the shelter, and love to give more struggling people that same heart-warming experience. I think that as a director, I can carefully choose supervisors and volunteers as well as shaping the case-management training, bringing more guests the same positive experience.
I want to use my position as director to hopefully establish a summer street team. Last summer, many people at the shelter felt that giving out supplies at the door is not in the best safety interest of our volunteers, but at the same time there are still people near us needing desperate help. Since hiring a guard is financially infeasible, I want to use my experience on the term-time street-team to establish a similar group for the summer. I think that this would not only help the entire community, but also keep the shelter’s long-term transitional mission. Perhaps each supervisor can go on a street team shift each week or biweekly, counting toward the 30 volunteer hours that is otherwise hard to

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