Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Internship Success!


Serafina has been one of Met Council's beloved interns for the past four months, but soon she will have a NEW title as Junior Grant Writer. Here are her reflections on her time here. Congratulations, Serafina!


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I came to the Met Council as an intern in the Benefits Access Department. To be honest, I had an idea of what I was going to do, but I was pleasantly surprised by the many other ways in which I was able to contribute. There was the research I enjoyed doing, as well as many opportunities to get out and experience how the non-profit world works. I attended inter-organizational meetings, traveled out to Far Rockaway to experience learn about the JCCs, and sat in on outreach meetings with our Emily, the Outreach Supervisor. I even got to work with other departments, helping to compile information and learn about the inner workings of the Met Council.

I feel my time here was valued and appreciated through all of the ways in which I was encouraged to be productive. I’m very grateful to have been able to work with such amazing people in the Benefits Access and Public Policy departments. I will soon be starting a new position as a Junior Grant Writer and am looking forward to growing more and contributing to the mission of the Met Council!

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Are you looking to volunteer at Met Council while also gaining valuable experience? We offer internships in many of our departments and are in particular need of Accounting/Financial Management interns. Contact volunteer@metcouncil.org with your resume and what you are looking for. 

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

What to Wear and How to Prepare Seminar SUCCESS!

This past week, Met Council, in partnership with NYLAG and AmeriCorps, had the pleasure to hold our first ever, "What to Wear and How to Prepare" Seminar on September 10th, 11th, and 13th. It was a huge success!

Thanks to designer Mary Bays' generous donation of dresses, we were able to provide over 75 women with the additional knowledge, skills, and beautiful new attire to take on their interviews with renewed optimism! 

One of the many smiling faces after the event

The 4 AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinators from Met Council and NYLAG with the help of our 15 volunteers, seamlessly pulled off 3 days of seminars, made countless phone calls, packaged and distributed over 75 dresses- all with endless enthusiasm and smiles!
Our volunteers excited to hand out the dresses
Our attendees and volunteers were enthralled by our special guest speakers- Kelly Eggers and Alexis Bressler spoke of their experiences interviewing from both sides of the desk; Elliot D. Lasson, Ph.D traveled all the way from Maryland to give his valuable insight to our attendees; and Eve Cantor of Shop Your Closet gave first hand demonstrations of how to dress to impress and make the best from what you have already.

Kelly Eggers

Eve Cantor

Alexis Bressler
Finally, we cannot thank Mary Bays enough.Without her act of generosity, this event could not have taken place. Because of her kindness and devotion to her community, we were able to engage and empower 75 women. Volunteers like Mary truly warm my heart and I speak for my fellow AmeriCorps and Met Council employees, make our job all the worthwhile and meaningful.

Mary Bays and Elliot Lasson

As in the words of our attendees:

"Thank you and the volunteers for such an informative and fun event last night.  I sincerely appreciated the valuable job search presentation from Alexis Bressler, the wonderful fun fashion tips from Eva Cantor, and I especially appreciated the stylish dress from Mary Bays...wow!  THANK YOU!  There was a lot of hard work put into this event ... and it showed." - 9/10 client

"I just can't say enough good things about the whole experience.  I'm definitely more empowered now than I was before I had your help.  And I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new dress, it is GORGEOUS!" - 9/13 client

"Thank you for such a lovely, really inspiring evening.  I'm still smiling." - 9/13 client


Thank you to all our attendees, volunteers, and guest speakers!