“John F. Kennedy once said, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.’ In a lot of ways, that speaks to my work here at Mosaic.”
-Kirk, Mosaic House volunteer
Hundreds of volunteer applications are received annually at our office. A majority of those individuals never step foot at Mosaic; however, those that do help us impact thousands of lives each year. Last year, over 500 volunteers put in more than 10,000 service hours. Some of our volunteers taught ESL or yoga classes, played outside with the kids, landscaped, hosted holiday parties, or even treated our clients to a spa day. Some helped with our outreach efforts enabling us to distribute over 100,000 brochures across North Texas. Some hosted donation drives or shredded old files for us. These volunteers are college students, corporate executives, girl scout troops, and community members that all share one thing in common- they give time from their busy work lives, weekends, and holidays to help survivors of human rights abuses.
April is National Volunteer Month and we’re celebrating by highlighting some of our awesome volunteers. Our work simply would not be possible without the endless efforts of our volunteers. We’re kicking off the month by introducing you to Kirk. Kirk has been volunteering with Mosaic for over a year by picking up food from the North Texas Food Bank and bringing them to Mosaic House. Every week he unloads his car, organizes the food pantry, and restocks as needed. His support is deeply appreciated as most of our clients would not be able to put food on the table without these essentials. Sometimes during holidays or in the summer, you can even spot his two boys lending a hand in our food pantry as well. Thank you Kirk, Henry, and Charlie for all your hard work and dedication to serving the women and children at Mosaic House!
Name: Kirk
Occupation: Digital Marketing Consultant
Length of time at Mosaic: A little over a year
Volunteer Role: I visit the North Texas Food Bank every Thursday morning to collect food and transport the items to Mosaic House. I then unload all of the items in the food pantry at Mosaic House and maintain the organization the items as needed.
Why Mosaic? Several years ago, I read an article about the work that Mosaic accomplishes in the Dallas community and it struck me as an organization that I wanted to know more about and become involved with as a volunteer. Shortly after that, one of my family members became ill and I wasn’t able to commit to volunteering. A little over a year ago, I came across Mosaic again while researching local human rights agencies and decided to jump in to volunteering at Mosaic House.
What is the most rewarding thing about your work at Mosaic House? John F. Kennedy once said “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” In a lot of ways, that speaks to my work here at Mosaic. In my professional work as a consumer-based Digital Marketing Consultant, my brain has been trained to think of the perspective of others. The women and children at Mosaic House each have their own unique experience and often come from a place of trauma. Over time, I have become acquainted with several of the women and children here. Realizing that their current environment is anything from “normal”, I hope that through my work in the food pantry, I am able to in some way help “normalize” life from them. I try to set up the pantry in a way that resembles a grocery store- to create a “normal grocery shopping experience” for them and one that is easy to navigate. Simple things like placing the kids items on the lower shelves where they can see them and aligning the items in neat rows helps create a more welcoming space.
Anything else? My two young sons, Henry (9) and Charlie (6) have also visited Mosaic House to volunteer along side me in the food pantry. This experience has exposed them to the realities of different people who each have different experiences. It has been a great way for them to get involved and excited about contributing their time and effort to help others.
