You may have seen Stacey Hoang running around campus juggling the pile of books required for her full course-load, chatting with friends in the dining hall or more likely hanging out at her “second home”, The Waysmeet Center. Stacey is the Social Work Intern at The Waysmeet Center which means she’s in charge of organizing monthly dinners that welcome anyone in the Durham community, coordinating the volunteer schedule for the Cornucopia Food Pantry, providing direct assistance to residents of Durham who find themselves struggling to make ends meet in today’s tough economy and much, much more! Stacey’s life revolves around the betterment of the lives of others, which I can only imagine to be both extremely rewarding as well as very difficult. Everyday she caters to the needs of complete strangers and does it with a smile to boot! Stacey deserves recognition far beyond the many thanks she gets from those who she has helped and with that said, I would like to congratulate her on winning the 2011 Spirit of New Hampshire award! The Spirit of New Hampshire is essentially the “Oscar” of volunteer awards, and is awarded to individuals who’s volunteer contributions are believed to “improve life in New Hampshire”! We were lucky enough to steal Stacey away from her busy schedule to ask her a few questions about how she manages to make it all look so effortless!
1. How did you first get involved with The Waysmeet Center?
          I first got involved with the Waysmeet Center after meeting Larry Brickner-Wood, the Reverend and Executive Director of Waysmeet, at the MLK Leadership Summit in February of my Freshman year. From then on, I was involved with Waysmeet and mostly attended dinners and events and did not become deeply involved until I interned in Fall 2010 as a Women’s Studies Intern. Also, being in Oxfam UNH connected me to Waysmeet because we worked closely with Larry and Waysmeet.
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2. What is your job as a Waysmeet intern?
          As the Social Work Intern of Waysmeet, I am Cornucopia Food Pantry Cornucopia, Volunteer Coordinator, Service Trip Coordinator, City Reach Coordinator, and provide assistance with Flames of Hope Direct Client outreach (I currently have 3 clients), our Furniture Loan Program, the three annual food basket drives, and running our programs and events (i.e. Drum Circle, Community Dinner).
3. What is your favorite event that The Waysmeet Center puts on?
          My favorite event at Waysmeet is the Drum Circle and Pasta Supper. These dinners tend to be smaller and it is easier to interact with everyone when the room is not crammed with people. I also like hearing everyone drum together and seeing people dance in the middle. I also love the coffeehouses that follow the Community Dinners.
4. Has working at The Waysmeet Center helped you realize what you want to do in your future career? If so, what is that?
          Yes, Waysmeet has helped me realize that I would like to focus on community outreach, organizing, and/or development in my future career. It has also reinforced my goal of working with low-income populations. I know that I am better on macro-level issues versus working with clients one-on-one. I do both at Waysmeet, and I enjoy macro-level work more than micro-level work.
5. Why is The Waysmeet Center so important to you?
          Waysmeet is so important to me because it is my second home. One of Waysmeet’s goals is to build community, and we have been very successful at doing so. There is a wonderful, loving, giving community at Waysmeet and you can always find someone to talk to and someone to support you. Waysmeet brings together caring and kind people and it feels really different from the overall environment at UNH. Waysmeet is also important because the two staff, Larry and Chuck, are very important people to me and they can always be found at Waysmeet.
6. Describe a normal day at The Waysmeet Center
          A normal day at Waysmeet consists of me coming in at 11 am, cleaning up a bit if it is really messy, welcoming volunteers and assigning tasks to each volunteer, checking the food pantry to see what needs to be done, eating bagel chips that are made by volunteers, talking about Waysmeet happenings with Larry, interacting with many of our student visitors, talking with one of my Flames of Hope clients, responding to the massive amount of Waysmeet-related emails I receive on a daily basis, then going home around 6 or 9pm (depending if there is an event).
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7. What have you personally gained from working at The Waysmeet Center?
          I have learned a lot from working at Waysmeet. Firstly, I know I am a better person from learning from Larry. He is very wise, and has taught me a lot about this line of work and about the world and life in general. I have found a strong community that I will always carry with me, even when I graduate. I have gained so many lifelong relationships that have been fostered at Waysmeet. I have also gained a lifelong home, because I know I will always be happy at Waysmeet.
8. How can UNH students help The Waysmeet Center?
          Students can help in many ways at Waysmeet. They can volunteer at one of our monthly dinners, at the Cornucopia food pantry, attend one of our monthly soup kitchen service trips, volunteer to assemble food baskets during our food basket drive, hold their own campus food drives, take care of our organic garden bed, pick up donated food from around the community, or by giving a monetary donation! They can also just come to our events and learn more about us.
9. How do you manage balancing your course load and all your volunteer work?
          I manage balancing my course load and my volunteer work by cutting down on the amount of hours I sleep in a day. I also have two jobs, so my days are filled back-to-back, and nighttime is the only time I do homework, so I spend a lot of nights doing homework. But, the sleep deprivation is completely worth it for the volunteer work I do. I also try really hard to not procrastinate, so I often block my Facebook and this always helps.
10. What is the hardest part of your job?
          The hardest part of my job is thinking big picture, instead of day to day, which is what I do now. Since I have so much to do on a daily basis, sometimes I don’t remember things I have to do in the next few weeks, and sometimes it leaves me scrambling to get things done the day before. For example, just now I realized that I don’t have a lot of volunteers for next Tuesday’s food basket drive because the food basket drive has really sprung up on me since I have been busy thinking about my other responsibilities that I didn’t see how close the food basket drive was. So now I have a week to find a dozen volunteers and it is my fault because I often take on too many responsibilities, but it all gets done!
11. Describe a funny memory from your time at The Waysmeet Center
          I can’t picture one single funny memory at the moment, but I know there are a lot. I associate Waysmeet with laughing and smiling, because a lot of my close friends come to Waysmeet, which makes my work there a thousand times better. Also, Larry and Chuck are really funny, so they always make me laugh somehow.
12. What do you like to do for fun when your aren’t volunteering?
          When I’m not volunteering, I enjoy taking walks, especially in college woods. I was lucky enough to study abroad in Italy last semester, where I walked a lot- so I miss walking for long periods of time. I also hang out with my friends for fun because pretty much all of them are funny. If it were warmer out, I would be at the beach. I also really like hiking and eating. For the most part, I relax in my free time because I don’t have much free time and it is not easy always being on the go during the day.