Susie - Friends of Refugees - Blog 5

We were planning to take this day off to see Atlanta. However, the day before I had been talking to the director of the Mommy and Me program. She had once again told us how grateful she was for us volunteering there for the week and mentioned that she didn't know what she was going to do Friday without our help since the regular volunteers didn't start until the third week of classes. She was clearly stressed and worried about it and I felt so touched she was so thankful for our help. As I mentioned on day 1, we all went in thinking we would just be doing indirect work that was helpful, but not exactly desperately needed by the organization. However, working at Friends of Refugees I definitely felt needed, appreciated, and welcomed by every single person there. Thus Thursday, during lunch I brought up this issue with the rest of my group and we all immediately decided that we would come in the next day to help out. We had come to Georgia to volunteer and so we told her that we would actually be coming the next day as well unlike previously planned. She started crying on the spot because it was such a stress relief for her. I seriously cannot explain how much I have come to care about this organization. I know I have already raved about how amazing everyone was, how much dedication and effort they put into their jobs and just how much they sincerely cared about everyone there. The final day everyone on Alternative Breaks was so sad to think that this would be our last day at the site. All of us were surprised and thrilled by the work we had done and the community at Friends of Refugees. I am so glad that I ended up going to Friends of Refugees through Alternative Breaks.