By Peter Woo, Lend for America Intern

On Saturday, July 7, CEF celebrated its second annual Financial Independence Day by throwing a cookout party at HOPE Gardens. Though human flesh seemed to cook faster than the chicken (the grill was very small), CEF staff, volunteers, and members both veteran and new kept the spirit high with each other’s company. But it was a hot day, and the flow of the food supply was somewhat tight. Two of our members—Dennis and Ronald who had experience working for restaurants—and Mike—our former member, current Opportunity Class teacher and a former owner of a restaurant—were hard at work manning the grill and getting grilled.

Grilling out for Financial Independence Day

When I grabbed my share of some potato salad and beans, I sheepishly asked Ronald to make sure to grab a plate himself.

“Nah, I’m good. I’ll wait until I see that there’s enough food for everyone.”

I felt many things all at once when I heard his reply: surprise, shame, admiration, gratefulness. For the moment, however, I felt that it would be best for Ronald if I magnified my feeling of gratefulness, though I was mostly ashamed. Ronald was doing something that is incredibly hard for people to do; he was going through a lot of discomfort for the benefit of others. A proper response would be to accept that thankfully and take a positive challenge to heart.

The second leg of CEF’s dual mission is to incubate genuine leadership within students. And it’s such a great nursery for that kind of growth because students are forced to greet some form of discomfort every day. For me, at least, doing my best to face and embrace discomfort every day forced me to see a lot of ugliness in me which in turn made me vulnerable. And I find that mutual vulnerability through discomfort is critical for an authentic community that softly assigns both parties, me and my clients, into a place of sameness.

Chilling

As CEF currently goes through a process of growth, there seem to be some discomfort. Obviously, needless discomfort is a function of inefficiency, but I’m confident that CEF will grow into the kind of discomfort that promotes thoughtful self evaluation and community building vulnerability. It’s definitely not going to become an organization that grows comfortable.

“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24

Peter is a rising junior at the University of Notre Dame, and is interning with the Community Empowerment Fund through a national internship program called “Lend for America.” He has jumped right in and gotten involved in all levels of CEF’s programming this summer to learn about how we work and hopefully take some great lessons back to his home campus in Indiana, where he is starting a campus-based MFI called “JIFFI.”  

This summer, you’ll hear from a different member of the CEF summer staff every week! We’ll be collectively writing reflections on the day-to-day work with our members, office happenings, and lessons we’re learning.

Our first post comes from Lucas Hernandez — Lucas is a Lend for America intern with CEF this summer, and is joining us from Rollins College in Florida! We are so grateful to have him as a part of the team this summer.

By Lucas Hernandez

Being removed from one’s comfort zone is always an adventure.

This summer, being a part of the Community Empowerment Fund (CEF) family is living proof of this creed.

My name is Lucas Hernandez, a rising senior at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. I have the pleasure of spending my summer here in beautiful Chapel Hill thanks to the Aspen Institute and their Lend for America program, which looks to help college students pursue careers with a conscience. Along with the Community Empowerment Fund, university students are given the opportunity to work at the Capital Good Fund and the Intersect Fund.

Although I have spent only one week at CEF, I have gained a lifetime’s worth of experience and laughs. Viewing the videos on the website and reading stories about the organization prior to arriving at Chapel Hill I knew there was something difference about CEF. Many said it was about relationships and a sense of family. Having heard similar credos from other nonprofit groups in the past I took these viewpoints with a grain of salt. However, upon arriving at my first day in the office on Franklin Street I absolutely believed it. The energy, the passion and the dedication demonstrated on a minute-by-minute basis by both members and advocates is awe-inspiring. The individual attention and the connections that are developed clearly works beyond helping members find jobs or open savings accounts, it creates a sense of worth and empowers everyone involved.

Personally, I have helped members work through job applications, apply to social services and even finding affordable rates on taxicabs. As I work through these issues with members I realize how much I have taken my life blessings for granted. I knew there were issues in this world and there is no shortage of struggle or strife, but to view these struggles first hand is powerful. What is more powerful, however, is feeling so connected in friendship with CEF members so as to look beyond these struggles and solely see their wonderfully inspiring personalities.

I look forward to helping fulfill CEF’s mission of empowering community members and filling gaps in Chapel Hill. I particularly look forward to using my skills to help develop the newly launched CEF Latin@ business services. Until that point, I look forward to spending the rest of my day with friends and learning, even more so, the power of individuals coming together to simply just be with one another.