Thriftique and Hospitality

I began my time working with Hospitality House as an intern unconventionally. Unfortunately, the project that I would be assigned to, Welcome Home Thriftique, would be going out of business at the end of June and I, along with three other interns, began our work there at the end of May. Essentially, we had one month to get rid of as much of the product as we could in order to make as much money as we could for Hospitality House and for the move out to be as easy as possible. It was a little strange promoting and working to benefit a place that I had only visited a couple times and knew very little about, but I knew the mission was noble and the work was quick and enjoyable. In that time, I became far closer to the three interns that were also assigned to Welcome Home Thriftique and the job became more fun and the time passed quicker each day. We did not end up selling everything, but we did get quite a few things out and were able to make a good amount of money before finally closing the doors on a project that had been running since 2013.

The real gratification of the internship did not occur at Thriftique, however, but rather at Hospitality House itself. While a typical intern would go work at Hospitality House before the went out to work on a project, we had done the opposite because of the imminent closing of Thriftique. I helped in the kitchen and finally got to see the clients who we had been working to help the whole time. Seeing such thankful people made me realize the value of nonprofit work and just being able to serve a single meal to them a day was thoroughly enjoyable.

Working for Hospitality House has been a blessing for me since I have never done anything quite like it. Everyone should be able to have the experience of helping people that you might not know but appreciate all the same and can provide even the smallest kindnesses to. Interning at Hospitality House has changed my perspective on quite a lot, and I cannot recommend it enough.