A day in the life of a community center volunteer
July 17, 2010 4:11 am News and SocietyBe thankful of what you have. This is what I always tell my customers in the community center. I work in the job data center where I assist the unemployment in looking for job opportunities. My customers vary. There are some kids who approach me to look for jobs that they can do during the summer so that they will have extra money when school starts but mostly, my customers these days are professionals who lost their job because of the current economic crisis. Aside from assisting them in posting their resumes online, I also provide them with advice or assistance in terms of claiming their unemployment benefits. I am the one who answers questions like, ‘how do I extended my unemployment benefits?’, ‘how do I file my unemployment benefits income tax?’, ‘how do I know if I am eligible for unemployment benefit extension?’ and a lot more. My job is exciting because I get to tackle different problems everyday but all of the same topic – unemployment. There was a time when I was so moved when a 50-year-old man only remember to apply for his unemployment benefits after 99 weeks! I tried my best to assist him because he did not have earnings with him. His daughters are still living with him because all of them have disabilities. Whenever he tries to save for their future, something bad happens. The community center was actually moved with his story that I assisted on finding them a public hospital that will waive their hospital bills while they undergo treatment. This is one of the many perks in my job. It is probably boring for some but it sure gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling of what I accomplish everyday.