We complete satisfaction surveys with every client throughout their time at AWE. One question we always ask is, “What is the most impactful aspect of our services?” Overwhelmingly, clients mention the sense of community and welcome.
Community is at the heart of our work, and we are committed to creating a warm, welcoming, and supportive space for everyone we serve. Clients, volunteers, staff, donors, and partners are all essential parts of the AWE community.
But what exactly do we mean when we talk about the AWE community?
A volunteer and a child play together while the child’s mother participates in group therapy through Steps2Success
The AWE community is a teenage client supporting another client he met through our youth program when he was having a mental health crisis.
The AWE community is a graduated client who manages a restaurant hiring another client who recently received their work permit.
The AWE community is a client seeing a woman crying outside a social services office and bringing her to AWE for support. It’s these two women now coming to ESL classes together every day and teaching another new client how to take the bus to and from our office.
The AWE community is a former client bringing in a car seat and bassinet her baby has outgrown—on the very same day a new AWE mother gave birth—then tearing up when she learned we would deliver the items to the new mom and baby at the hospital immediately.
The AWE community is a mother and daughter in AWE’s housing offering to share their space with a pregnant mother and her two children who have nowhere else to stay. It’s the children quickly becoming “like sisters, like a family.”
The AWE community is a client holding a baby so a mother can eat her lunch. It’s another mother gently showing a young mother how to comfort her baby during a group event.
The AWE community is a client washing the plates of other clients after community lunch. It’s a client showing a new client around our building. It’s the children of clients becoming friends and playing together, even though they don’t have a shared language.
The AWE community is a volunteer purchasing chargers for a large donation of computers so we can distribute them to clients. It’s teenage trafficking survivors forming friendships through our youth program—going shopping together, offering to babysit each other's children, and showing up to an event in matching outfits.
The AWE community is a client helping staff take trash to the dumpster on a day we are short-staffed, a volunteer staying late to clean up after a hectic afternoon, a partner stepping in at the last minute to interpret at a community meeting. It’s a staff member playing with the children of a young trafficking survivor so she can attend group therapy, a community member donating money to pay for a client’s medication or legal fees, a volunteer group installing new locks and security lights at our building to help our clients feel safer, a board member accompanying a client who’s afraid to leave her home to an appointment in the community.
It’s clients supporting one another. It’s volunteers doing often invisible work to keep the building functioning. It’s staff showing up day after day. It’s our board advocating for our work in the community, and our partners working alongside us to ensure our clients receive the support they need to heal.
AWE community is all of this and so much more. But at its core, it’s a group of people who believe seeking safety is a human right—and who know that together we can achieve far more than we ever could alone.
General Inquiries:
Volunteer Inquiries:
Media and Donor Inquiries:
Sign up For Our Newsletter
Thank you for signing up.
You've been added to our mailing list.
Oops, there was an error with your submission.
Please try again.
Asylee Women Enterprise. All Rights Reserved.