We Work For Less

How it all started!
Not a lot of 20 something people would jump at the opportunity to dedicate their life to an organization for basically no money. In fact when I tell people that is what i'm doing I generally get a very puzzled look. However, on the flip side of that I also get the "your a saint" response. The fact is I did it for several reasons, 1) I didn't want to go to Grad school right away 2) I didn't want to find myself stuck a job that I didn't like and 3) I didn't really know what else to do. So here I am!


I have moved from North Carolina to Detroit, Michigan. I've been here for about a month and half. All I can say is it is like living in another world. No cities in NC even come close to the size that Detroit is. I also wanted to do this experience to see if I really loved North Carolina or if I was just staying inside my comfort zone...my bubble. Turns our I really do like North Carolina. 


We Work for Less!
Now I named this We Work for Less because i'm a full time volunteer. Now i'm not making no money, I get a "big girl allowance" and an educational stipend at the end of my service to help chip away at my mountains of loans from school. My organization provides room and board so that is nice. If you really want the dollar per house amount with out calculating the cost of room and board I make about $4 a hour, so I'm not doing this for the money. So the point of this blog is to document my adventures through Detroit, Michigan and my experience as a full time volunteer. Oh, and the other thing that adds to this experience is that my organization is a residential program for youth, currently we have all teenagers. 8 to be exact, this is not to mention the community program that also has 8. So here I am 22 years old and i've dedicated a year of my life to trying my best to help 16 inner city kids take the steps to get into college, an opportunity that some of them didn't realize was possible until they got accepted into this program. 


So here we go...keep in mind i'm starting this a little late so the next blog will be a catch up of some of the things that have happened in that month.