On connecting to something bigger
Being a part of something bigger than yourself can be invigorating. It’s why we participate in food drives, poor buckets of ice down our backs when challenged, and cheer on our favorite sports teams (even the 2016 Bears). That drive to connect with others is a powerful motivator, and has the potential to drive solutions to some of society’s toughest challenges.
Erin is a connector who moved to Chicago with her husband to develop her acting and improve chops. She was bitten by the ‘something bigger’ bug in the fall of 2015 when she found Heartland Alliance. She was raised on the idea that there is always something to be done to help her community.
“I’m really motivated by the bible verse Mark 12:31 – ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Too many times I am caught up in the unfairness of my life that I forget to love my neighbor and what would the world look like if we loved our neighbors as ourselves.”
Erin initially signed up with Heartland Alliance’s Refugee and Immigrant Community Services to become a youth mentor. One of our more popular volunteer programs, she was placed on a waitlist – but that could not stop her. Erin wanted to start as soon as possible, and asked for other opportunities.
As it turned out, there were slots available to help in the RICs early childhood education room, providing daycare services for the children of refugees. Erin had been working in childcare for years so it was a great temporary fit as she waited for a mentor position to open up. Working with the early childhood team, Erin teaches refugee children English and helps them practice motor skill exercises.
“I’m familiar with helping young kids learn, but this was certainly a new experience. Communicating with the children isn’t always easy, but they dive right in and try to connect with us – and so the whole place is focused on that connection.”
Within a few months, Erin got the call to become a mentor and was paired up with a young woman from Burma. Connecting at first was a bit difficult, but Erin was up for the challenge and continued to meet with her new friend twice a month. She helps with homework, spends time with the whole family, and takes her mentee to the movies. The two had a particular fondness for the film Kubo and the Two Strings, a story the mentee’s Grandmother would tell her when she was a child.
“It’s about finding the best ways to connect. Over the past few months, we’ve really grown our relationship. Our recent meetings have really been so open. We’ve become friends, not just some part of a program.”
It is important to mention that, while Erin has worked hard to develop deep relationships with this family, she still comes in and helps with the RICs early childhood education team. But Erin still wanted to find a way to help the greater community.
“I was looking for ways to get others connected. I just kept seeing people who wanted to reach out but didn’t know how.”
Erin had an epiphany: you can help your neighbors simply by doing what your good at. For Erin, that’s performing – and she was going to find a way to bring her two worlds together.
Last February, Erin approached the artistic director of iO Theater about putting on a show to raise awareness and funds for Heartland Alliance – and got the green light.
Erin began calling all of her improv colleagues and accruing teams who would perform pro-bono. She also worked with a couple of her friends – RICs team members Lea Tienou and Paw Say Ku – to develop a show that would draw upon the refugee experience while remaining true to the comedic form of improv. Not an easy task.
Paw – herself a refugee from Burma – deciding she could tell some of the funnier stories of her years spent in a refugee camp, and the improv artists would have to try and top them. Paw spoke about the time she was supposed to sell cakes around the camp, and how she had to frantically clean them up after tripping and dropping a few dozen pastries a-la Lucille Ball. She talked about her family’s crazy idiosyncrasies. She wailed and flopped around on stage – and the people loved it.
In the end, the event raised over a thousand dollars and connected well over a hundred people to Heartland Alliance. Connecting iO theater to Heartland Alliance’s refugee programming turned out to be a perfect pairing.
From helping young refugee children, to mentoring teenage refugees, to theater production, we are thankful for Erin’s passion. Her hard work doesn’t just help the individuals she works with directly, it also impacts the entire community around her.
“In such a diverse city, it blows my mind how we don’t treat neighbors as such. When you reach out to your neighbors, they reach back. It’s an incredible experience.”