When an Evanston woman’s apartment was destroyed in a fire, she approached a group of Northwestern students for help.
“Her immediate need was for medical assistance and the insurance to cover it, but we were able to help her get food stamps and find legal services, too,” said Moira Haller, a Weinberg sophomore.
Haller and Weinberg sophomore Sohil Shah are the local directors of the Evanston branch of National Student Partnerships, a national student-run organization.
Since 2000, students from the Evanston branch have helped low-income residents navigate the obstacles of employment, transportation and housing.
About 50 NU students volunteer two hours each week at the site, 1615 Oak St., in the Evanston Employment and Training Center.
Haller, who has worked with National Students Partnerships since fall 2004, also volunteers with Dance Marathon and Suitcase Party. Some students only volunteer with National Student Partnerships, while others spread their time across several community service projects.
But they are all similarly motivated, Haller said.
“All students have to be knowledgeable about what they are offering, and also they have to be sensitive to the situation,” she said. “Clients are really swallowing their pride and coming in and asking for help.”
Emily Rhodes, the Evanston site coordinator, said volunteers are “a pretty self-selected group” with skills that can help clients.
“It’s people who have probably volunteered before but want a more hands on and intense experience,” Rhodes said. “As students, they have a lot to offer; they have useful optimism and they’re very resourceful.”
Student volunteers must be also be approachable, Weinberg sophomore Olivier Daviron said. Volunteers have to be patient, especially with clients who come in with no idea of what they want, he said.
“Some people just want someone to talk to,” Haller said.
Volunteers talk to clients about their situations. They file forms, including the clients’ resumes in the database, then determine how to help the clients, said Daviron, who has worked with the organization for more than a year. Before they begin working at National Student Partnerships, volunteers must attend orientation sessions and shadow other students to learn the organization’s goals and the best way to help clients write a resume or do a job search.
Despite the training they receive, volunteers can’t always fix clients’ problems. Programs or shelters sometimes have long wait lists, Haller said.
“It’s really frustrating when things are beyond our control and there’s nothing we can do to help,” she said.
Not all of National Student Partnership’s clients are low-income residents, Daviron said.
“We get homeless clients, we get people who have college degrees, we have middle-aged clients who just got laid off from their job of 20 years.,” he said. “We have a set profile, but in my experience, you can’t really depend on it.”
The Evanston site is part of the national organization, founded by two Yale University students in 1998. National Student Partnerships now serves 15 communities nationwide. Its Chicago site is run by mostly Loyola University Chicago students, although they collaborate with the Evanston office, Haller said. Funding comes from donors, foundations, corporations and the government.
Reach Rebekah Tsadik at [email protected].
