After spending the better part of a year writing about volunteers, coworkers, community members, and clients at the Catherine McAuley Center (CMC), it feels a little strange to sit down and write about myself. I applied for the Communications and Outreach VISTA position last November without much direction – I had a college degree, a tougher job market than I had hoped for, and the notion that I didn’t belong in corporate America. More specifically, I wanted to explore the communications field while working with an organization that was doing good in Eastern Iowa. By those standards, this VISTA position would give me exactly what I was looking for. Now that I’m less than two weeks away from completing my term, I can wholeheartedly confirm that it did. 

It has been a strange and challenging year. My plans – and I think I can safely speak for all my fellow CMC coworkers here as well – did not include an international pandemic and a derecho, not to mention the myriad of issues they brought with them (months of additional construction on our new Center, a lack of stable housing, and food insecurity throughout the community, just to name a few). Although at times I felt like I was trying to finish a bowl of soup with a fork, I’ve had unexpected crash courses in resilience, flexibility, and selflessness. I’ve seen these traits at work in the clients we serve at the Catherine McAuley Center, in my coworkers, and in the Cedar Rapids community. I sincerely hope that I carry these lessons with me into whatever I do next. 

Serving with the Catherine McAuley Center has offered me much more than the basic day-to-day communications tasks that I expected when I sent in my application – taking part in a long-awaited move, having a hand in the formation of an advocacy committee (sign up for our advocacy e-newsletter here!), coordinating a virtual celebration of World Refugee Day, weeks worth of all hands on deck recovery efforts, organizing voter transportation for the first time. These have all been valuable and often humbling experiences. I could tell after a tour of the building on my first day that I was going to be surrounded by a service-oriented team that was dedicated to making a difference in the lives of their clients. 

While the plans for this next year of my life are still up in the air, I’m deeply thankful to all the people that I’ve had the chance to work with here in Cedar Rapids. I look forward to spreading the word about the Catherine McAuley Center’s impact in Eastern Iowa, and I certainly hope to come back to see it again for myself when the time is right.

Although my term will end on December 7th, CMC will be welcoming a new Communications and Outreach VISTA in January to build on everything accomplished so far! Learn more and apply on our Careers page.

Garrett Frambach