This month AFS-USA is pleased to spotlight Becky Minor of North Bend, Oregon, who has been a volunteer with the Pacific Cascades team since 1997.
How did you learn about AFS and what prompted you to get involved?
I have known about AFS for so long that I don’t remember how I learned about it. Our first hosting experience was wonderful and about a year later my husband and I became volunteers because the chapter needed help.
What keeps you coming back to volunteer each year?
I enjoy the kids and I learn a lot about the rest of the world.
What’s a typical volunteer ‘shift’ like for you?
AFS is pretty much year-round for me. January to June is heavy on area-team hosting work. Helping support the students in my chapter is on-going. I try to minimize volunteering in the summer because we are gone a lot.
What have you learned or how have you been personally affected from your experience with AFS?
I have enjoyed watching the changes in the student applications over the years. For example, Thai girls no longer all have the same haircut and many more students from around the world report having indoor pets. Our trips abroad to visit various exchange students have been wonderful. We got to go to Australia to see our Thai daughter. She immigrated and is now an Australian citizen. I enjoy having our students return to visit. It’s fun to see the adults they have become.
Please share the best thing or funniest thing that’s happened to you while volunteering with AFS?
Shortly after our first exchange daughter arrived from Thailand, we drove past a coin laundromat. She said in amazement “There’s a place to wash your coins. Why would anyone do that?”
What do you want to say to people who might be interested in volunteering with AFS?
You will meet a lot of wonderful young people and make friends around the world.
What’s one thing AFS volunteers and staff don’t know about you?
I love puzzles. I do a crossword or other word puzzle with my breakfast each morning. Jigsaw puzzles are a Christmas tradition for me.