Rachel Mertz-Rodriguez

Title: Volunteer Coordinator
rachelmertz@catholichealth.net
If you meet Rachel, and hopefully you do soon, ask her to tell you her Giving + Learning story. She’ll tell you about how it arguably began when she was 10 years old.

In 4th grade, Rachel was the new kid in school and trying to find new friends was tough. During school recess, instead of playing with her classmates, she found herself alone on the sidelines. (Don’t worry the story has a happy ending!) This continued for awhile until her 4th grade teacher asked Rachel to help out two new students from Vietnam become oriented to the school.

Rachel quickly found two new friends, helping them practice their English and learn more about what it means to be a new American. At 10 years of age, Rachel found herself doing what she now helps other people do for Giving + Learning: becoming a mentor and friend to new Americans in the Fargo-Moorhead community.

She wants everyone who’s interested in becoming a mentor at G+L to know that she takes every measure to make sure that both the relationships that she puts together is a good fit for both the mentor and mentee. She listens to everyone’s needs and matches everyone up accordingly.

To learn more about how you can become a mentor or become involved in some way at G+L, go to our Volunteering page, or contact her at rachelmertz@catholichealth.net.

Kris Schipper

Title: Business Officer
kristenschipper@catholichealth.net
Kris might tell you that she does “Everything financial!” at Giving + Learning. She’s the backbone of the funding side of the organization that is crucial to their mission. She has a hand in writing grants and reports, as well as building budgets, all of which help maintain the organization from behind the scenes.

Not only does Kris work as the Business Officer, but she also has mentored an Albanian woman who wanted to achieve citizenship. Kris learned that her and her husband came from Bosnia about 16 years ago with their five children, the youngest was 3 at the time, and Kris worked with her on all of the citizenship requirements, and she later passed! Three out of her 5 children have since achieved citizenship on their own. Kris is proud to say that she was able to celebrate with the family, after the swearing-in ceremony, and has developed a great friendship with the family.

When asked what the greatest benefit that she has gained by working with new Americans, she replied that she now better understands the reasons why the F-M community is their new home. She said that “The vast majority of refugees want to obtain employment, become self-sufficient and make the American dream their own.” Her passion is to support the Giving + Learning mission from behind the scenes, but also actively advocate for the program. She wants you to contact us today about how you can contribute to Giving + Learning.

Kris also wants to point out our Donate page, which helps individuals who desire to help the Giving + Learning mission through a financial or item donation.