Nonprofit Review: The Spero Project in Oklahoma City

Today, I met with a young professional woman who works for the Spero Project in Oklahoma City.

The Spero Project is a faith-based, non-profit organization that seeks to "Confront injustice and oppression by mobilizing the Church to fully engage in a Biblical response to under-resourced populations."

Basically, they are trying to help Christians really act like Jesus and love their neighbor as themselves.  As a Christian, this really inspires me.

The Spero Project has four main areas of focus:

1. Community development
2. Foster care family ministry
3. Marginalized women
4. International refugees

Each of these areas of focus has its own staff members, volunteers and projects.  

After I graduate, I would like to work in the nonprofit sector with international refugee resettlement, so I am most interested in their program for international refugees.

The Spero Project works closely with Catholic Charities who is the government-specified agency to filter international refugees in Oklahoma City.  The Spero Project fills in the gaps that Catholic Charities misses, such as developing lasting, meaningful relationships with the refugees.

Credit: Fort Worth World Relief

According to the staff member I met with from the Spero Project, the refugees area always appreciative for the physical gifts such as getting a job, apartment and furniture, but they find the friendships with the Spero Project staff and volunteers the most rewarding.

Since the Spero Project considers relationships a top priority, they offer volunteer opportunities related to building relationships, such as family sponsorship and learning center tutoring.

Through the family sponsorship program, local American families become host families for the refugee families.  They not only help them with practical things, such as learning English, but also invite them over for dinner and to celebrate holidays.

Additionally, volunteers can work as tutors at the learning center for the refugee children for an hour or two on Mondays through Thursday.

Credit: Fort Worth World Relief

Even if you're not Christian or want to get a career in refugee resettlement, you should still check out the Spero Project.  They're doing some much-needed, innovative service work that is much different from the typical volunteer opportunities.  

Through the Spero Project, you can learn much more about an issue in Oklahoma City and also meet people and learn first-hand from their experiences.

I highly recommend this nonprofit!

Short-term mission work: my thoughts

Full disclosure: I have been on many short-term mission trips, both locally, within the U.S. and internationally.  Because of my experiences, I know firsthand that many short-term mission trips can have only short-term effects.  I define short-term mission trips any volunteer trip shorter than 6 months.

For example, in high school, I went on mission trips to Georgia, Mississippi, within Texas and Costa Rica. I think the closer to home the mission trip was, the more effective it was. (Soon, I'll write a blog about how local is better).

My most effective short-term experience:
It was a week after I graduated from high school in Texas.  I found myself on a bus with my classmates headed to Georgia on a mission trip.

Georgia was beautifully different from North Texas, with lots of greenery, trees and humidity.  Our volunteer work in Georgia was extensive.

Watering the gardens we built and planted
in Georgia in summer 2009. Notice the paint
 all over my arms from painting the fence.

In Georgia, we also cleared a lot of
land.  Manual labor is the most
rewarding because you can see tangible
changes that have long-term value.

We cleaned out ponds, salvaged gardens and painted fence posts.  LOTS OF FENCE POSTS.

In one week, the work the 40 student volunteers put in that week would have taken the residents months to finish.  

Did I mention we painted a lot of fence posts?  The work was short and simple, but it had positive long-term effects.

My least effective short-term experience:
Let me just say: I'm against most international mission trips, but that's for a whole 'nother blog.  For now, I'm discussing length, not location of volunteer work.

My trip to Costa Rica came only a few weeks after the previously mentioned Georgia mission trip.  I worked at a local coffee shop for 8 months, sent out dozens of support letters and saved thousands of dollars for that mission trip.  As it turns out, international airfare is no joke.

The trip itself was wonderful.  Don't get me wrong.  However, my team's work there for one week was not relevant to communities or long-term in many ways.

Our team traveled to some neighborhoods of shacks in Puntarenas,
Costa Rica to deliver a week's worth of foods and necessities.

We handed out food and necessities to people living in very low-income neighborhoods.  Although this work was "good," it was also easy and routine.  The local church members in Costa Rica are quite capable of handing out food and supplies to their needy people.  Imagine if a bunch of Costa Rican teenagers came knocking on your door to give you a week's worth of food.  Strange, right?




We visited schools and talked to children.  Who knows, maybe a Costa Rican child's life was forever changed by our week-long work.  That would be worth it.  However, I think these sort of short-term international mission trips are more for the "helpers" than those being "helped." (I will write another blog about "Humanitarian Guilt").

These beautiful Costa Rican girls lived on the Isla de Caballo (Horse Island)
off of the coast of Costa Rica.  We spent one day with them.

I had the amazing opportunity to travel to the enchanting, mysterious country of Costa Rica, live in a resort for a week and experience new cultures and people.  I gained a lot from the experience, but I just don't think our work was lasting.