Introducing the Amarillo Area Foundation
Mission
“To improve the quality of life in the Texas Panhandle through effective philanthropic efforts.”
Core Purpose
“To meet charitable needs through grants to nonprofit organizations by attracting and managing capital gifts in perpetuity from individuals, families, corporations, agencies, and private foundations.”
In the beginning…
I felt equally excited and nervous! This is my first work-related experience with any professional organization. While I was getting ready that first morning, it occurred to me that I was truly putting on the “big-girl britches” my mother has so often alluded to over the years! Luckily, through the support of my family and educators, I felt prepared and confident enough to meet this new challenge with enthusiasm.
Plunging into the Deep-End
Everyone was so kind and welcoming on my first day, that the nerves wore off and I was just plain excited! Angela threw me straight into the mix that afternoon by taking me to a Workforce meeting! Since then, my time has been devoted to more meetings and learning as much as I can about the various projects and programs AAF is involved in. In a sense, I’m learning a whole new foundation-oriented vocabulary—acronyms, acronyms, acronyms!!
Meet My New Mentors!
Angela Lust is the Senior Vice-President of the Amarillo
Area Foundation and she will act as my internship supervisor.
Shree Veeramachaneni is a Program Director here at AAF and she will be overseeing my work and progress this summer as well.
Each of these women, along with everyone else I have met here at the Amarillo Area Foundation, exemplify professional qualities like leadership, discipline, integrity, and enthusiasm all while maintaining kind and approachable dispositions! Their poise and intellect are exceedingly inspiring—I couldn’t have asked for better mentors!
A Little Bit More About my Internship
My role as an intern here is hard for me to define at this moment, because I am still familiarizing myself with the fundamental basics of the organization! What I can report, is that I began work last week on a new project. Over the summer, I will be creating a Community Assets Map. Similar to the “Commonwealth Project” we are supposed to work on for blog #3; I will be collecting and detailing specific assets for all of the 26 counties served by the Amarillo Area Foundation. There is undoubtedly a lot to learn from this exercise, and I look forward to sharing that knowledge with all of you!
