Hi! My name is Emoni Harmon, and I’m a recent graduate of Ohio State University, where I got my MA in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with a minor in Nonprofit Management. I became interested in the Columbus Foundation’s Summer Fellowship Program during undergrad, so I’m incredibly excited to not only finally get to be a Summer Fellow but also to work with a nonprofit as longstanding and wonderful as Huckleberry House.

Overall, I’d describe my first week at Huck House as both exciting and very busy, as my first day was just three days after Sleep Out, Huck House’s largest fundraising event of the year. So, after all the standard onboarding stuff, setting up my desk, and meeting all the lovely staff in the Admin office, I got to work on one of the biggest post-Sleep Out tasks — putting together 500+ letters to send out to lapsed donors and 500+ thank you letters to those that participated in this year’s Sleep Out.

While putting together and sending out all these letters may not seem like a very fun or glamorous task, I found it to be an insightful one because each letter I put together was a physical reminder of just how many people in Ohio and beyond believe in and financially support what Huck House does — provide shelter, support, and guidance to young people facing difficult situations. Also, they were a tangible reminder of the importance of each individual donor and taking the time to steward a relationship with them, because that is how something like raising over $120,000 at Sleep Out this year is made possible.

However, later in the week, when I helped accept an in-kind donation and met a corporate partner volunteering at one of Huck House’s transitional living sites, I learned the importance of both monetary and non-monetary donations to helping Huck House operate all its programs.

So, I would say the biggest takeaway from my first week is that every dollar, in-kind donation, and volunteer hour that Huck House receives truly makes a difference, which is why they take the time to acknowledge each donor behind every type of donation. I can’t wait to see what else I’ll learn about throughout my 11 weeks at Huck House!

Until next week,

Emoni