Meet the Summer 2024 Interns! - Denver Rescue Mission

We love hearing from our interns on their unique experiences at the Mission. The support they provide to our Mission staff and our culture as a whole is so valuable, but we also hope the skills and new perspectives they take away from their internship are equally as valuable to their future career endeavors!

We asked a few of our Summer 2024 interns to share what they’ve taken away from their Mission experience!

Imanni Harewood

Youth/Recovery & Family Skills Intern

Meet Imanni, one of our interns from out-of-state! Imanni attends Clemson University, majoring in human capital education and development. Her internship placement is at The Crossing, where she works part-time with the youth whose families are in the Bridge program and part-time as a recovery and family skills intern. Imanni’s future goals are to start off working as a teacher and then move into education equity work within the government.

These goals fueled her intrigue in this internship opportunity, as she wanted to get a feel for what the lives of students are like within all socio-economic groups. Imanni spends her days either assisting with the development of daily activities for the youth in the Youth Center or observing counseling sessions and classes. Specifically, these are classes in anger management or life skills with the adults in the Bridge program. She even took on the special project of completely reorganizing the library in the Youth Center at The Crossing!

“My favorite part of the internship has been developing a bond with the kids. That bond has been the most valuable thing I’ll take with me after the internship is complete.”
Imanni

Molly Kate McCloskey

Career Readiness Intern

Meet Molly Kate, the New Life Program’s career readiness intern at The Crossing! Within her role, Molly Kate observes her supervisor as she teaches classes that build skills like recognizing relapse triggers, resume-building, interview skills, and how to take care of yourself within a job setting. She even helps teach some of these classes and works one-on-one with the men in the program to help them build these skills and get connected with resources for job opportunities.

Molly Kate attends St. Olaf College and is studying social work with a concentration in public health.

“I was excited to be a part of a Christian organization in a new way. I’ve learned that each individual I interact with has a different background and story that affects them and getting to know these stories and learn about the participants’ ‘why’ behind being in the New Life Program has been one of my favorite parts about being at Denver Rescue Mission.”
Molly Kate

Joslyn Spille

Residential Case Management Intern

Meet Joslyn, a recent graduate of Ozark Christian College and our residential case management intern at The Crossing! She studied counseling and pastoral care and will attend Liberty University in the fall for her master’s in clinical mental health. “The people are my favorite part about this internship, because I get to love them through the tough times and push them to continue growing,” she says.

Each day, Joslyn calls people who have shown interest in our Bridge program, puts in applications for those who are looking for housing and conducts intakes for the Bridge program. She also sits in on case management meetings where case managers meet with participants to connect them to housing resources, check in on their well-being as they live at The Crossing, follow-up about their job or job searching process, and make suggestions regarding their budgeting tactics.

“I have seen the difference that a hope in God can make in someone’s journey, and I have been encouraged by the participants’ faith and resilience.”
Joslyn

Kaylyn Raper

Accounting Intern

Meet Kaylyn, our accounting intern from Oklahoma! Kaylyn recently graduated from Oklahoma State and will be going back in the fall to pursue her master’s degree in accounting. Since her goal is to do accounting within a nonprofit organization in the future, this internship opportunity was the perfect fit to gain valuable experience.

She works with the accounting team to process donations and assist with weekly, monthly and yearly end-tasks. While this internship position isn’t as “people-facing,” Kaylyn says it has been great to work for an organization like this, because she knows the work she is doing is so purposeful.

As an intern who chose to live on-site during her internship, Kaylyn says, “I’ve learned a lot about the participants here and have gained new perspectives and understanding through interacting with them.” Her favorite part about working at Denver Rescue Mission has been getting to know people’s stories and witness the ways that program participants encourage one another.

“I’ve seen how having a smiling face goes a long way and can be a great encouragement to the participants.”
Kaylyn

Eva Hoskins

Mentor Coordinator Intern

Meet Eva, an intern at Harvest Farm in Wellington! Eva goes to school at Wheaton College and is studying anthropology and Latin American studies. While growing up in Fort Collins, Eva gained connections with Harvest Farm through their Community Supported Agriculture produce-sharing program, which is how she heard about this internship opportunity.

Now being hired as the mentor coordinator intern, Eva interviews volunteers who are interested in becoming mentors, while also interviewing men in the New Life Program to get to know them, their goals and how they may pair well with a mentor. Eva has encountered participants who are grateful for the challenges they have faced, because those challenges brought them back to God.

“I’ve been blown away by the faith of some of the men who have shared their stories with me,” she says. Eva is learning a lot about what it looks like to meet people where they are and to encourage them in their physical, spiritual, emotional, and social needs.