Travis Compton – American Cancer Society Camp Adventure

Charlotte Foster - AIDS Center of Queens County

The last two summers for Student Activity Fund, I interned at Alley Pond Environmental Center (APEC). I believed in APEC’s mission statement and I especially loved working with animals and kids, but I was feeling very restrained when it came to helping with classes and doing office work. I thought that I would have moved on to bigger projects because I had volunteered there before, but I ended up doing the same jobs I did last year. Also, because of elementary school budget cuts, fewer classes came to APEC for school trips, which meant I had less to do. I also had already been planning on doing a summer program in Boston and I would have less time to work, so I really wanted to have an internship where I could do work for at least 3-4 hours a day.

My mom suggested working at the AIDS Center of Queens County (ACQC) not only because she works there herself but she also knew the Syringe Exchange Program Coordinator, Tina Wolf, and knew they needed some extra help. The Syringe Exchange Program (SEP) at ACQC was created to help stop the spread of HIV, Hepatitis C and other illnesses that are passed through blood and people who share needles are at risk of spreading or catching these illnesses. Syringe Exchange is meant to protect people who use needles and also their kids, husbands, wives, sexual partners, and others who become involved.

When I met Tina Wolf, the SEP Coordinator, her long dreadlocks, tattoos and nails that were at least two inches long definitely surprised me. She looked nothing like the women I met at APEC, but I soon realized that she was just as friendly as they were and extremely dedicated to her work in the SEP. The office was on the fourth floor of a building in Hillside and it was miniscule. People were crammed into small rooms and almost all of them had to share office space. There were always people coming in and out, usually for programs and workshops, and it made it difficult to have your own space but everyone was so friendly to one another that it didn’t matter. I also met a lot of clients who were drug users or previous drug users, and at first I was nervous to talk to them until I realized that most of them are very sweet and the stories they share are always interesting to listen to. ACQC was extremely different from APEC, but the one similarity was the friendly work atmosphere - it felt as if everyone actually wanted to be there.

My job was to enter numbers into a program called AIRS, so that they could keep a record of who they were giving needles out to and how many used needles they brought back. The employees at the SEP at APEC would go out in a van every day and collect and distribute syringes to anyone that was in need. Their policy was to never turn anyone away. They would also record who came and went by giving them a confidential code, and that what the code that I would put into the computer and AIRS would determine how many times that person gave and took syringes. This is very important because these numbers determine what kind of budget they are going to have in the upcoming year. Although it was important work, punching in numbers for four hours straight every morning started to become mind numbing at times. It really helped to hear how thankful Tina was for all that I was doing, and she made me feel like I was a big help.

Last summer I learned a lot about being able to tap into my extroverted side, and also how to let others take the grunt work sometimes. I was only at ACQC for two weeks, but being there really made me appreciate small programs like the SEP. They don’t have many staff members, had almost no office space and don’t always have the money or supplies they need but they still go out every day and work for a program they believe in. The commitment to the cause and to their job really made a mark on me and I hope to feel that way about my profession in the future.

Now the summer is over and I’m back at school again for my senior year. I was a little nervous to go back to SUNY Fredonia and the crazy Theatre Department, but now that I’m here I definitely miss being at ACQC. Even though it was a short period of time and it was very different from the environmental center, it was still a great environment to be in for my first two weeks of summer and I would definitely recommend ACQC to any SAF intern in the future.