For the past six weeks, HOME, Inc. has worked with the Evelyn K. Davis Center and their summer internship program. Through this program, two interns worked in the office for 20 hours a week, learning about responsibility, office culture, communication, and workplace skills. Mar and War helped organize all the files in the HOME, Inc. office by shredding old confidential files, creating packets for different classes, and digitalizing files.

We are grateful to spend time with Mar and War to learn more about them and their hobbies (we are still waiting for our HOME, Inc. basketball game). We are excited to see where they are going in the future and hope their time at HOME, Inc. was impactful and will help in their future employment endeavors. Below are their reflections from their time at HOME, Inc.

Mar’s Reflection:

My name is Mar Billio and I am fourteen years old. I have been at HOME, Inc. for six weeks as an intern through the Evelyn K. Davis Center’s Summer Youth Employment Program, this program helps teenagers find summer jobs. This summer I learned how to balance my time between weight lifting, work and basketball/football practice.

One thing I like about HOME, Inc. is the location its right next to Tacos La Familia and next to the Grubb YMCA. One of the most impactful things I learned during my internship was about how HOME, Inc. helps people with housing issues. They teach people how to be good renters and deal with housing issues. They also pay people’s bills who were impacted by COVID. Working here has helped me realize how much COVID-19 has impacted people’s housing situations because they lost their jobs and couldn’t pay their bills.

The best part of this internship was that it was paid and I get college credit. Another thing I liked about this experience was that I got to listen to music while I worked. I am going to buy school clothes and save some of the money I earned. I want to save money to buy a car so I do not have to ask people for rides and I will be able to drive myself places.

 

War’s Reflection:

My name is War I am 14 years old, I go to Roosevelt High School. This summer I got the chance to be an intern for HOME Inc. with my twin brother. 

We shredded papers with HOME, Inc. client’s personal information for confidentiality reasons, scanned documents, made Rent Wise folders which are given to clients who take HOME Inc.’s Rent Wise classes to become better renters, stuffed mailers for donors, and worked to bring awareness to the agency by writing this blog.

My favorite part about the internship is the mentorship from Kourtney and Emily, they taught me about saving money and they helped me when I needed guidance. They also helped me determine what I tasks I needed to do each day. They even took me to a Mediterranean restaurant for lunch!

My expectations were to come work and do simple tasks to help out in the office. In the future, I hope to do more internships like this one and gain more knowledge and more work experience.

HOME, Inc. is a non-profit organization that does a variety of things related to housing. They educate tenants on how to be good renters, build houses for families, help landlords and tenants know their rights and responsibilities, and provide homebuyer classes to families in need. 

This internship helped me learn the value of a dollar, how to save money, how to balance my time with sports and work, as well as perseverance to come to work every day    

I think HOME Inc. is important to our community because they build houses for people that are in need and give people the tools that they need to be good renters and landlords in order to continue HOME Inc. needs more funding you can donate at homeinc.kindful.com.