My name is Michele Robinson and I am an Americorps member serving in Macomb County. I have enjoyed my time serving at the organization and I have witnessed a lot of incredible things take place during my service. I have seen clients come from a place where they feel that they have no hope to being proud of themselves and their accomplishments. I have been able to go out and be one on one with many of the people and families that we serve and I have been amazed at how resilient and hopeful they are. It has been a joy to serve not only our shelter clients but the community at large.

Our organization has taken part in quite a few activities in addition to our normal day to day activities. We have assisted families in need on both the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday. Our first annual Joy of a Toy assisted over 100 children who would not have received Christmas gifts otherwise. It was a pleasure to see the parents come in and shop for toys for their children and also be able to gift wrap the toys. Myself and many of the volunteers even assisted in some of the gift wrapping for the kids. I even had the opportunity to make up gift boxes for families who have moved into housing and in these boxes were toys for their children if they had any and other household items. I was renamed "the spirit of Christmas" for the Christmas season and I had a lot of fun being Santa.

My experience overall has been a fulfilling one and I have learned a lot about myself in addition to learning even more from the people that we serve daily. It has been a pleasure being at my agency and knowing that we are helping others and making a difference. Even on a day when I am not feeling the greatest, I have been thankful to have clients call just to say thank you. I have even had a client come into our agency and let us know that she has gone back to school full time and would like to become a social worker because she felt that our agency has influenced her so much and has been of great assistance. I am thankful for the people that we serve because they are a reminder of why we come to work each and every day.