This is my second year of BVS. My first year of BVS was DOVE, Inc. in Decatur, IL. For my second year, I chose a new project...Samaritan House of Atlanta, Inc. located in Atlanta, GA. Samaritan House of Atlanta, Inc. operates Café 458 and an Employment Readiness Program. Both programs work with homeless individuals by building personal relationships that empower the individuals to make changes in their own lives. Café 458 does this through a reservation only meal service. The Employment readiness Program does this by providing the resources that help our guests find full-time, permanent employment. I have worked at both locations and am now settling into the role of employment counselor at the Employment Readiness Program.

Although I have been here for a relatively short amount of time, I have already started to build the type of relationships with those I work with and for that I had hoped to develop when I entered BVS. This became especially real to me on a Saturday night:

After working at a fund-raiser for our agency, I went with another BVSer to the IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for a midnight snack. One of the guests from the employment program was working there. Although it was very busy, he made a point to come over and greet us. He insisted that we sit in his section. He then went back to the task he had been working on when we entered. I overheard him say to a co-worker, "Those are my friends." Not just "my counselors", we were his friends.