Volunteer
Volunteers make the difference all across the globe – wherever the iF Foundation has a partnership. We want to give all our volunteers special thanks and recognize their extraordinary efforts in helping to create a sustainable pathway out of poverty for families in the developing world.
Becoming a Volunteer
Volunteering as a fundraiser or advocate to alleviate global poverty by creating economic development opportunities for the disadvantaged in the developing world is one of the most powerful ways to help The iF Foundation. If you are interested in joining our network of volunteers to host community events, launch awareness campaigns or spread the word about our work, please contact our development department.
The iF Foundation
26-15 Ulmer Street
College Point, New York 11354
Eileen Spencer, Director of Development
espencer@if-foundation.org
(718) 554-2962
Volunteer Spotlights
We would like to share their stories with you. We hope they inspire you as much as they inspire us.
Megan Relyea
I cannot thank you enough for this opportunity. My time in Haiti was unforgettable and really taught me to look at the world in a different way. As promised, I fell in love with the country as well as all the people that I met. I feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to work alongside two remarkable individuals. Edlyne and Magnus are so passionate about helping the Haitian community and are completely devoted to their country and the iF Foundation’s cause. I have been changed through this experience. I have always had a passion for helping others and reaching out to those in need but this experience has reignited that passion and desire.
The iF Foundation is a wonderful organization. It is different than most of the other organizations that are working in Haiti. Many organizations are feeding the dependency that Haitians have on other nations. Your mission is to help Haitians, help themselves. Through the iF Foundation, Haitians are learning what it takes to get themselves out of poverty and make a better life for themselves and their families. I have only great things to say about everyone I have met and the work that the foundation is doing in and around Thibeau. I cannot wait to go back and spend more time working in Haiti.
Jake Solomon
When I was presented with the opportunity to travel Haiti I knew that the trip would be a life changing experience, and so my decision to accompany the iF Foundation to Haiti was an easy one. I knew that Haiti would be different from anything I had ever seen before, but what I didn’t expect was to come home impressed by the country. From everything I had heard about Haiti I expected nothing more than a poverty stricken country with little potential. On the contrary, when I went to Haiti what I saw was a country filled with people looking for opportunities to advance and make something of their life. The only problem is the Haitian people lack the resources necessary to make the advance they so eagerly long for. That’s the beauty of the iF Foundation, they make a perfect team with the Haitian people, the people of Haiti provide the desire and drive necessary for success and the iF Foundation provides the resources and guidance needed so badly by the Haitian people. My trip to Haiti inspired me so much that I have adopted the cause and gotten two of my friends involved. My friends and I have pledged to raise the money to start at least two businesses in Haiti, one from money we raise on our own and the other through money raised with the help of the our school. Knowing that you can make a real difference that can be seen and measured over time is perhaps on of the best things in the world. With the iF Foundation everyone can achieve this feeling because you know were the money is going and the progress is carefully measured. I urge all people to look into the iF Foundation and their work because it sounds like a cliché but everyone really can make a difference especially through the work of the iF Foundation
Taylor Fleming
My experience with the iF Foundation was one of the greatest I have had in my life. I traveled to Haiti with my best friend Kate Macina and Father Byrum. We were able to move around Haiti, seeing and experiencing the impact that iF Foundation has already had on the country. Only through the projects we saw and the stories we heard from local people did Kate and I begin to realize how badly we wanted to start our own project in Haiti. With the help of the Foundation, we discovered St. Joseph’s School, which provides education for much of the village in which we stayed. From conversations with the principal, we learned how a computer program and lab would benefit both students and the community greatly. Kate and I arrived back in the states and wasted no time. After gaining permission and help from the Foundation, we raised enough money to establish the school and get the ball rolling on the project. We plan on traveling back to Haiti sometime in the near future to oversee the progress and facilitate its completion. Just to have the ability to help Haiti in our own unique way has been one of the greatest gifts of the iF Foundation. My experience has become a part of me because I can put a name and face to the people I have been fortunate enough to help.
Julia Jenne
What is so wonderful about the IF Foundation is that they are teaching the Haitian people to fish rather then giving them the fish. They are giving many people the tools they need to be self sufficient. To help the Haitian people feel needed, intelligent, useful and productive. The foundation is helping the Haitian people see that they have a part in their recovery and their future. I’m glad that I went to Haiti and had an opportunity to see what the foundation is doing so that I could feel confident about telling other people who would like to donate that their giving would be going to a very wise, helpful and honest foundation. Not everyone has the time or opportunity to take a trip like I did and so if my experience can encourage someone to give support to the foundation, then I continue to feel helpful to the people of Haiti. There are so many people in need both abroad and in our own country. The IF Foundation is trying to make a difference, one small business at a time.
Casey Brophy
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first landed in Ghana, this trip being my first time out of the US. I experienced a country that is in such great need and poverty it is emotionally over whelming to see. Being an educator the hardest part for me to see were the thousands of children going without their basic needs being meant. Not having access to clean water and food leaves little time for them to focus on education and learning. Many would think experiencing this kind of poverty would be very depressing for me. But I actually experienced the exact opposite emotion. I felt extremely up lifted and at peace while around the impoverished people of Ghana. They are a culture so rich in spirit and faith it makes worldly possessions seem meaningless. What they lack in monetary value they make up in spiritual value. It’s is important to reach out and help these people because we as Americans have so much to learn from them.
Kate Macina
In the summer of 2009, right after my high school graduation my best friend and I took our very first trip to the third world. As Taylor and I got on the airplane we both had no idea what to expect. We knew of course that Haiti was poor, that it would be dirty, and that it would be nothing like our familiar streets of Northport. What we didn’t know, however, was that no amount of investigation, or research could have prepared us for what we saw. The sheer amount of devastation, of malnourished children, of filth was unimaginable to the both of us. What was equally, if not more unbelievable was the beauty, hope, and work ethic of the Haitian people. Despite the awful circumstances that surround their every day life every single person that Taylor and I met were happy, genuinely happy. It was the children that undoubtedly won over our hearts. They played soccer with us, hand games with us, and the girls let us paint their nails. Even with the language barrier, we formed an unbreakable bond.
While we were in Thibeau, the iF Foundation informed us of a dream of the Haitian children: to have computers. They longed to “search the web” and discover the “.com” world that we all to often take for granted. Taylor and I decided to take on that project and now, a year and half later, that we are able to see that dream come true. Through our fundraising efforts and the collaborative resources provided by the iF Foundation there will be a computer school built at the St. Joseph school.
I’m only 19 years old. I don’t have a lot of life experience. I don’t know what I want to do when I “grow up”, but I do know that working with the iF Foundation has opened my eyes to the third world. It has inspired me to give back, and it has truly shown me how lucky I am.
Jane Macina
My most memorable moment in Haiti was visiting a newly funded candlestick making business, owned by three women. Hidden in a rural village, with no other commerce or opportunity to earn a living was a rudimentary factory and assembly line funded by the Foundation. The owners beamed with pride while they showed us their operation. Their surrounding neighbors came to greet us. One gentleman described his business plan to become a mattress maker, soon to be submitted to iF. What made this moment so memorable was the hope and encouragement I saw in people’s eyes. It was a contagious feeling and made me want to do more for a people who are imprisoned in a country that doesn’t offer opportunity, other than through organizations like the iF Foundation.
