“I come from a single mother home in a predominantly immigrant community. As an adult, I understand now that decisions were made in our home about whether we were paying our light bill or putting food on the table. I know the sacrifices that families have to make. But the ways we showed up for each other, for our neighbors, was incredible, and I think that affected how I navigated the rest of my life. 

So when I was figuring out what I wanted to do in life, I knew I wanted to support folks in our community that had similar experiences to mine. But as an introvert, it was hard to go outside of my comfort zone and I didn’t know where to start. I wanted to volunteer but it would become overwhelming. 

At Besa we have accessible volunteer opportunities. It’s just one space where folks can go and learn about many different non-profits. Through this work I’ve seen that there are folks from all over the community that want to give back, all different ages, all different life experiences. At their core they want to do good and want to serve folks that might be experiencing hardships. 

Volunteering is a great way to get to know your community and the issues that are happening, but also the joy that’s happening. Our community is so culturally rich and that is reflected in our nonprofits, as well. 

It’s messed up that our nonprofits are losing funding for DEI, and that should not happen, but I think there is hope in knowing that a lot of the established service organizations are already diversity and equity minded. They’ve done that work, and that can’t be stripped.” 

– Nora Yepez-Ornelas is the Senior Manager of Community Partnerships for Besa, an organization that promotes volunteerism by connecting businesses with nonprofit volunteer opportunities throughout Central Ohio.