I cannot believe this week was my last at Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services! The summer culminated in the Youth Summit this Friday, which was amazing. 

The week before the event was hectic and exciting. We placed supply orders, met with the Collaborative Board for the last time, and coordinated with the venue manager at OSU-COTC. On Wednesday I packed goodie bags in the afternoon with water bottles, immigrant welcome kits from Seeds of Caring, and age-appropriate books. We set up as much as possible ton Thursday so that the volunteers could arrive bright and early at 7:30 on Friday with no hiccups. It was amazing to see all my work come to fruition with the Youth Summit on my last day. The kids were so excited and proud of their performances. 

My experience at ETSS has taught me so much about the nonprofit sector, the city of Columbus, and myself. My supervisor Sarah Huffman has been an amazing mentor.  I kept a running document of questions and notes jotted down throughout the week to ensure I got the most out of our meetings, and that document is currently 31 pages long. 

I also worked closely with the Advancement team to do some fundraising for the Youth Department. I was nervous about this aspect of the internship because I have never thought of myself as a “salesperson” and I’m generally uncomfortable when asked to convince people to give me things. However, the Advancement team was incredibly helpful. I eventually memorized my pitch and got comfortable taking no’s. I’m proud of my contributions to ETSS this summer. I raised over $5,000 in in-kind donations, applied to 2 grants and made a list of several more that the Youth Department will apply to in the fall, organized our 2 back storage rooms and inventoried everything, which took SEVERAL days, and created a folder of template documents for planning next year’s Youth Summit.  

What has been most meaningful about this experience? 

• I absolutely loved the nonprofit environment and found it highly motivating, especially getting to interact with the people we’re serving and base our services on their ideas and feedback. The field trips with the kids were always the highlight of my week. 
• I met with many community partners to coordinate workshop details for the Youth Summit and began to understand all the amazing organizations that make up the nonprofit landscape of Columbus.
• It’s been valuable watching how our organization and our community partners have navigated the uncertainty of funding both federal and private right now, showing me the importance of flexibility and hope.
• I’ve learned so much about how nonprofits function, program administration, event planning, and fundraising through ETSS and the Columbus Foundation Learning Sessions. I’m definitely interested in nonprofit work in the future, and I would love to learn more about program development and grantmaking. 

Thank you, ETSS! Thanks, Columbus Foundation and Dr. Lomax! 

All the best, 

Sanay