Campus of Change

Ending Homelessness in the Fox Valley

Volunteer Spotlight: Katie Daw

Posted on Feb 2, 2015 by

“I just wanted to do something,” says Katie Daw, COTS’ volunteer Activities Coordinator. Katie began volunteering at COTS three days a week at the beginning of December. “I wanted the experience,” she says.

Katie first learned about COTS when she was looking for an ongoing volunteer opportunity. A friend gave her a booklet of local volunteer opportunities, and after reading about COTS, she thought it would be a good fit for her. She approached COTS with a willingness to do anything, and staff quickly came up with the idea of having her serve as Activities Coordinator.

Katie had previously worked at AT&T for 10 years, but received her human services degree in 2013. She was looking for opportunities to get more experience in the human services field. “Volunteering here is the best thing I ever did because I’m now 100% sure I’m in the field I want to be in,” she grins.

Bringing the community together
 

As Activities Coordinator, no two days are the same. Katie is currently working on starting a book club, a creative writing class, a movie night, and a pool and dart tournament. She’s able to meet with residents to learn about what they would like to do.

“We want to give our residents as many opportunities as possible to come together as a community,” explains Andrew Wilson, COTS Executive Director. “Since we also work with our residents on budgeting, it’s important for us to show them that it is possible to have a good time with minimal expenses. It’s wonderful having Katie here because she is able to focus on creating low-cost, fun activities that also ideally make our residents better human beings.”

 For Katie, the best part of her volunteer experience is “just talking with the residents.”

 If you are interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities at COTS, please contact Lindsey at lmacdonald@appletoncots.org or (920)268-0603 ext. 704.