Synclaire’s Story

Hey there! My name is Synclaire Mitchell and I am a Senior Public Health Major at Coastal Carolina University (Conway, SC). I am currently serving as a Non-Profit/Program Development Intern for Neighborhood Hope. Growing up, I’ve always had a passion for helping others and giving back to the community. Throughout my time in college, I’ve been involved in 4 service-based student organizations. Community service has always been important to me because you never know how you could easily end up in someone else’s shoes and it’s just as equally important to help the next person along the way. Last fall, I began thinking of places where I wanted to intern. My heart was set on moving to Charlotte after I graduated. I thought to myself…why not just go ahead and intern in Charlotte? I remember googling “non-profit organizations in Charlotte,NC”. I honestly can’t even tell you how many different sites popped up. After reaching out to some orgs, I felt discouraged because they either didn’t do internships, or already filled the internship position. For a while, I gave up on it. I talked myself out of even trying to find a site in NC. Then, something happened. I’m pretty sure I was in class or at work googling non-profit orgs again. (I hope my former boss doesn’t read that part lol). I came across an orange and white handprint logo. The Abandon Project. Hmm…What’s that all about? I started reading their mission, vision, and scrolling through the entire website. They worked directly with children (Check) They are a non-profit organization (Check). Those were the two criteria that I was hoping to find in a placement site. I reached out to the TAP staff by filling out an inquiry form. To my surprise, Mr. Joshua responded to my message. We briefly had a conversation where we shared our background and upbringing. From this conversation, I paid attention to how passionate Mr. Josh was about the children and the organization.After contemplation and prayer, I finally made the decision to relocate with a relative to complete my internship. I chose TAP because I was impressed with the work that they do for the community and the love they pour into the children. Also, their goal of making change within the community stood out to me the most. To be completely transparent, it is way too easy to talk yourself out of an opportunity. Just because the journey looks hard, or you run into obstacles, doesn’t mean you quit. Had I given up on interning in Charlotte, I would’ve never had the opportunity to work with this amazing group of kids and staff. Please be mindful of what you tell yourself because you could very much be the one blocking yourself from a blessing.