What I learned about Volunteers

Working as a mentor coordinator this year, I’ve been humbled and awed by the outpouring of volunteers. We started this year aiming to recruit our largest cohort of mentors yet, and to be honest, I was nervous that I wasn’t up for the challenge. Once COVID hit. I thought, “Well so much for volunteers this year.” But God always seems to have an answer to my negativity. He reminds me that while life may not go as planned, He is still good. In fact, this year, we have recruited more mentors than we ever have before. 

There have been days this year that my capacity just wasn’t there. All the stress and the trauma and heaviness of the world around me crippled my energy. I had heard this from some of my friends as well, and I was sure that we wouldn’t meet our goal for our largest mentor cohort. But boy was I wrong. It seemed like every week I was receiving new mentor applications and I was in awe that despite the stress of the year, people still wanted to love their neighbors in tangible and generous ways.

Madi Hellsten

Madi is the Mentor Coordinator at Blueprint 58. She is a graduate of Georgia State University where she studied psychology and sociology. She began volunteering as a mentor with Blueprint in 2015 and continues to spend time with her mentee. Madi has worked with youth in Atlanta for 5 years ranging from church youth group to refugee resettlement. She is passionate about social justice and loving her neighbors, and is a large advocate for women’s rights. Madi is a lover of queso, a Harry Potter enthusiast, and adventure seeker. She enjoys traveling and writing and performing music in her spare time.

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