Meet Isaiah and December, two new Community Navigators.
Isaiah
What will your role in PWM be? I don’t even know how to describe it… What I do is navigation. So I help people fill out job applications and go to interviews, assist them in applying for food stamps, medicaid, if they need to go to human services I will give them a ride and help interpret for them. I also do home visits.
What are you most excited about as you join our team? I’m excited about a lot of things. I am excited to see how Project Worthmore grows in the next few years. It has grown a lot over just the past year, so it will be cool to see what happens next. I am also excited to see our refugee community become more self sufficient.
Where were you born? I was born in Pharkant, Burma. It’s in Kachin state.
What’s your favorite food? I love everything. Whatever is on my plate I’ll eat it. I guess my favorite snack is almond biscotti.
Tell us something fun or interesting about yourself: I’m a fan of Icelandic music. I recently started skateboarding.
December
What will your role in PWM be? Family Navigator. I will help the families apply for food stamps, medicaid, while translating and assisting with paperwork.
What are you most excited about as you join our team? I am excited to be connected with the families. I’m really excited to help them find success as they learn to stand on their own.
Where were you born? I was born in Burma and I grew up on the border of Thailand in a refugee camp called Nan Soi.
What’s your favorite food? Anything spicy.
Tell us something fun or interesting about yourself: I like to visit friends and spend time in the outdoors, especially if there’s a river or lake.
David
What will your role in PWM clinic be? Dental Assistant
What are you most excited about as you join our team? A lot of things. I love working with the dentist. It’s cool to help refugees and work with people from all over the world.
Where were you born? Chin state, Burma
What’s your favorite food? Burmese food, basically anything that my wife cooks.
Tell us something fun or interesting about yourself: I seem to be good at fixing stuff. Like, I know how to fix computers but I’ve never studied it before.
Lannea
What will your role in PWM be? Connecting volunteers with their refugee neighbors to learn, share, and be part of a community together!
What are you most excited about as you join our team? Since getting involved in PWM since 2009, I’ve volunteered for a season in every program- ESL, music, family partnerships and food/nutrition! I’m passionate about what PWM does and it’s so exciting to see how the programs have developed. Volunteers play such an important role in that, and I look forward to supporting the amazing work they do.
Where were you born? My love for the mountains comes from being born in Colorado. As a youngster, I would scramble up rocks, trees, and 14ers… anything that was taller than me so I could get a good view!
What’s your favorite food? I’m a dietitian, so I suppose I should say something healthy is my favorite food. I do like healthy things, but my real favorite is actually Hawaiian pizza and brownies or carrot cake.
Tell us something fun or interesting about yourself: I speak a decent amount of Azeri language from when I spent two years in Azerbaijan, a country located between Russia and Iran, that’s now close to my heart!
