Making Lasting Connections, Helping People

"My name is Eric Kern and I’m an ASU engineering student who volunteered at Valley of the Sun United Way’s Project Connect during my spring break. I heard about the program from my friend Derek Ong. I served as a guest guide for my very first time and met a great man named Roger who had been living on the streets for some time. I helped connect him to clothes, shelter and many fundamental services. Roger spoke with representatives from several organizations which provided him with a medical card, affordable housing information, U.S. Veteran employment opportunities and vocational rehabilitation for his injured spine. All of these services will hopefully be able to help him get back on his feet.

At Project Connect, I witnessed an overwhelming enthusiasm for helping others. Volunteers treated guests with respect and provided words of encouragement and service providers were eager to serve the hundreds of homeless individuals seeking assistance. I think its awesome work United Way is doing to help people like Roger. Project Connect impacted my life in a profound way in that I learned how any individual, regardless of social class, can positively affect another person's life in the biggest way possible. I felt on top of the world after assisting Roger and other people who were down on their luck.

My fellow volunteers and I not only addressed immediate problems and challenges the homeless face daily, but also provided services to help them to hopefully rebound and live more independently, long-term, in the future. Both the guests receiving services and the volunteers benefited significantly from the experience. I felt great afterwards and my friend, who initially invited me to join him at Project Connect, could not stop talking about the man he helped. The two of us relived the event for the remainder of the day, reminiscing about our enjoyable time spent with our guests. I imagine all Project Connect volunteers share this unique and uplifting feeling after serving as a guest guide.”

Eric Kern, Project Connect Volunteer
ASU Freshman
Biomedical Engineering Student and Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) officer