Month: May 2014

Being the programs and outreach intern at Becky’s Fund this semester has been an amazing and transformative experience. I never imagined coming into my internship the multitude of experience I would gain or the amount of personal growth I would see in myself, but I am ecstatic that these are the realities of my time at Becky’s Fund. I learned so much during my time at Becky’s Fund, not only about the issues of dating and domestic violence, but also about some of the more logistical, behind-the-scenes aspects of working at a non-profit organization. I also learned more about my own leadership abilities, as well as how I can improve upon them. I was able to learn so much about so many different things due largely to the fact that my work at Becky’s Fund was incredibly multi-faceted. I was charged with working on Becky’s Fund’s social media accounts, helping with volunteer outreach, helping to plan a Becoming Your Own Heroine workshop, planning and executing our large fundraising event at Gold Cup, composing educational articles and pamphlets, and other smaller-scale tasks.

I have been interested in the issues of dating and domestic violence, as well as women as victims of crime on a more general scale, since I took a class entitled, “Women, Crime, and Justice,” during my sophomore year at The University of Iowa. The issue stood out to me during this class as one that deserves more attention than it gets. It’s an issue that’s more pervasive in our society than many people realize, and in order to counter it we must make it more of public discussion than it currently is.

Although I do not know if working directly on the issue of domestic violence is in my future, I do know that this semester taught me that I have a crucial desire to better the world around me, whether via working on this issue, or any of the others that currently plague our society. I know that my newly improved sensitivity to victims, along with some of the knowledge I have gained this semester, will help me in achieving this goal. Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Becky’s Fund this semester, and I am truly grateful for having the opportunity to spend a few months working on such an important issue.

Hello, my name is Jose Lorenzo Jimenez and I have been the graphic design intern for Becky’s Fund the past two semesters. Before I talk about my experience as an intern, I would first like to talk about my motivation to join Becky’s Fund. It is unfortunate how society still fails to see how serious of an issue domestic violence is. There are still an absurd amount of domestic violence incidents that go unreported. There are misconceptions on what counts as domestic violence and who can fall victim to it. Being the avid sports fan that I am, I have read too many articles on athletes who either abuse their wives/girlfriends or are abused themselves. I joined Becky’s Fund in hopes of helping raise awareness on this issue. as well as helping those who have been victims of domestic violence. Now you may be wondering how I would able to do these things as a graphic design intern, but you would be surprised on just how much you can help by being a part of Becky’s Fund.

My main job as a graphic design intern was to design materials for the numerous programs and events that Becky’s Fund holds throughout the year. It was my job to create different designs for flyers, banners, Facebook cover photos, etc. These materials would inform the public of important details regarding each event. Another responsibility of mine was to create sponsorship packages for each event to send to potential sponsors. These sponsorship packages would hopefully entice sponsors to support that particular event, as well as, Becky’s Fund. I was also in charge of updating the Becky’s Fund website whenever necessary. I would help post articles relating to domestic violence that the other interns wrote. In addition to these design focused tasks, I also helped out with other projects. For example, I occasionally updated our Facebook fan page with news regarding domestic violence. Not only was I introducing people to these articles, but I was also reading them myself. I learned a lot about domestic violence while doing this particular task.

I enjoyed my time working for Becky’s Fund. It made me feel like I was doing something worth while. Even though I was only designing materials such as flyers, banners, and sponsorship packages, I could not help but feel like I was helping spread awareness about domestic violence. I guess that is what is most important, it is not the fact that I gained job experience, it is not that I collected new designs to include in my portfolio, what is most important is that I played a part in the fight against domestic violence, no matter how small the part.