Vendor Writing: Norma B.

Volunteer Spotlight: Gisselly Mazariegos

BY NORMA B., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

Many of our regular readers are familiar with our articles featuring a Vendor Spotlight. After one of our paper release meetings, I decided it was time to turn the tables and do a Volunteer Spotlight. Tennessee is the Volunteer State after all, and The Contributor volunteers play a large part in keeping the paper and it’s vendors running smoothly.

With that in mind, meet Gisselly Mazariegos. She came to the U.S, in 2013 from Honduras. She now lives in Smyrna, Tennessee and attends Trevecca Nazarene University. Her major is Social Justice with a minor in nonprofit Management.

In line with that, she got an internship with People Loving Nashville.

She learned about The Contributor when Cathy Jennings, Contributor executive director, came to speak to one of her classes and the rest is history.

She been a volunteer at The Contributor for the past eight months, and she continues to volunteer on Wednesdays in spite of her very busy schedule. Why? Because The Contributor is, “a family, and they provide immediate income to make a difference and help heal the brokenness.”

From her prospective she says, “It’s NOT about the volunteers it’s about the vendors.”

(For the record, I disagree with that. It takes EVERYBODY to make it work!)

So what does she hope to accomplish with her degree? She said she wants to go back to Honduras, get out of her comfort zone, to be a light in the dark, create jobs and eventually open a nonprofit.

She said her work with nonprofits (People Loving Nashville and The Contributor) has really opened her eyes to, “a system built to oppress,” and she is determined to, “do something, to take action as opposed to doing nothing.”

She says she wants to continue learning more and she encourages other young people to, “get out there and see what’s going on in the world around you, and don’t get to comfortable or focused on technology and our own little world, because young people CAN make a difference!”

You may wonder what motivates Gisselly to act as she does — I know I did — so I asked.

She cited the words of Micah 6:8: “‘He has told you what is good. And what is the LORD require from you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.’ And that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Well, I think she’s off to a pretty good start!