Intern of the Month
Intern of the Month- Larissa Hatch
During the summer of 2009, Larissa Hatch lived in an orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico working for Project Mexico, an organization that “builds hope for boys without families and families without homes.” Saint Innocent’s Casa Hogar is the only orphanage in northern Mexico that caters to teenage boys. Larissa found this internship through a previous experience with Project Mexico. This summer Larissa oversaw homes being built, and also led tasks such as orientation, roofing, or stuccoing. She also made sure the neighborhood children were safe and having fun. When not working with the groups, Larissa was a ranch hand - helping at the orphanage digging ditches for new pipelines, laying brick, or reading the boys a story. Larissa also had the opportunity to work in Project Mexico’s Chula Vista, CA office where she was busy helping with donation runs, writing grants, and attending staff meetings. Larissa says her favorite part was watching the houses go from a concrete slab (hand-mixed by the groups) to a home the family lives in without worrying about thievery or poor weather conditions. Most families were living with sheets for the entrance on a makeshift shack. Larissa had the opportunity to talk to the founder, director, and other important staff about nonprofit work and how an NGO is operated. Larissa will graduate in 2011 and hopes to work long term in mission work or further internships with a nonprofit organization.
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