Year Two...

By Colleen Sinsky

I think I’m somewhere around my one year anniversary of working at JOIN. I’m just starting to experience annual events for the second time, and it’s all starting to feel a bit more like a comfortable- and of course chaotic- pattern. I transitioned last month from my full-time volunteer position being supported by the Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest to the United Church of Christ, but my “Outreach Assistant” position at JOIN stays the same. It’s hard to convey how fortunate I feel to get to spend two years at such a wonderful organization that has let me learn so much about the world of homelessness and about myself. I’m not sure that I’ve gone public with this confession yet, but until I started at JOIN I was pretty wary of those homeless people. I had very little experience relating with people who lived so different from myself, and I probably put more stock into stereotypes than I should. Obviously, my worldview has been rocked by the past 12 months and I’ve had the opportunity to totally revamp how I thought about and related to urban poverty. I’m excited to see where the next year takes me. I know that I’m going into this alongside the incredibly supportive and fun JOIN staff and I’m confident that we’re all going good places together. Here we go, year two!!