Celebrating Volunteers With Our New Volunteer Coordinator, Cindy Hang

It’s National Volunteer Week - a time to highlight the importance of volunteering, to thank our volunteers, and to encourage everyone to get involved.

Here at EMBARC, our board, staff, and myself recognize how much our volunteers do for us every week of the year. Our impact empowering refugees and immigrants in Iowa would not be as great without your help. Thank you to everyone who volunteers at EMBARC!

COVID-19 made the last year more challenging for refugees and immigrants while social distancing made volunteering difficult as well. We thank our volunteers for persevering with us to overcome these challenges.

Meet EMBARC’s New Volunteer Coordinator

Cindy Hang recently joined our staff as EMBARC’s new volunteer coordinator. The daughter of refugees, Cindy grew up in Los Angeles and attended Syracuse University. Before joining us, she taught primary school in Vietnam, volunteered with the Peace Corps in Lesotho, and served as an AmeriCorps VISTA member with the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. She’s bringing what she learned from these experiences to help empower refugees at EMBARC.

Get Involved

Have you thought about volunteering with EMBARC? Are you thinking about getting back to volunteering now that vaccines are rolling out and the pandemic is hopefully coming to an end?

EMBARC has a need for volunteers to:

• Tutor refugees in English, build their digital literacy, or prepare them for the HiSET (High School Equivalency Test)

• Mentor refugee youth or families

• Assist with “green card” applications so refugees can become more self-sufficient

• Pick up or deliver donations

• Fundraise and plan events

• Advocate for refugees

You can learn more and fill out our Volunteer Application Form by visiting the Get Involved section of our website.

Thank you to our volunteers! If you’re thinking about volunteering, I hope you’ll join us--you’ll make a real difference in the lives of Iowa’s refugees and immigrants!