This month AFS-USA is pleased to spotlight Dawn Shepard of the Northwoods Gateway team. Dawn has been a volunteer since 2015. Dawn has been a real go-getter in the team as the Orientation Coordinator, Hosting Volunteer and New Volunteer Interviewer. Congratulations Dawn!
How did you learn about AFS and what prompted you to get involved?
We had an AFS club in my high school and I always enjoyed the outings we would plan for the students.
What keeps you coming back to volunteer each year?
Our team is the best. Each person has a role to play, but then everyone helps everyone else
What have you learned or how have you been personally affected from your experience with AFS?
I have opened my home to several students and now feel like I have children all over the world.
Please share the best thing or funniest thing that’s happened to you while volunteering with AFS?
I would say that the funniest thing while in AFS would be different things that the students do. Our first student from Germany was catching the bus to school and out of the window of the school bus he does a weird sign with his fingers and face, I thought it was a way that Germans said good bye, so I did the same gesture, but a few seconds later I looked down and saw his welding helmet in my car and realized he was trying to tell me he forgot his helmet. I felt pretty stupid as I chased the bus to the next stop.
What do you want to say to people who might be interested in volunteering with AFS?
Everyone has things they like to do, some people are well organized, others like to talk, some are crafty, whatever it is that you like to do, there is a spot for you on the team. I really like crafts and sewing, and it has come in very handy to create things for orientations that the kids all sign and someone wins to take home. You can just start out being a liaison and learning so much from the students you see during the year.
What’s one thing AFS volunteers and staff don’t know about you?
When I was in high school, our club went on a weeklong field trip to visit another club in Missouri. I was placed with a family and that is where I met my husband. He was my host brother for the week. We have been married for 33 years now.