For Jay Matchett 鈥�08, 鈥�13 MAL in his current job, all the pieces have come together. His long-held interests in politics, sociology, and human rights have coalesced into a vocation that couldn鈥檛 feel more right. Since he took on the directorship of , a multipronged social service agency in his hometown of River Falls, Wisconsin, he feels he can convincingly say: 鈥淭his is where I鈥檓 supposed to be.鈥�
Our Neighbors鈥� Place is an organization Matchett watched grow from its infancy to serve a great need in for people who found themselves homeless or in need of transitional housing.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been exciting, exhilarating,鈥� he says, of his four months as director, serving his community and engaging the complex issues surrounding poverty and homelessness.
Drawn to Justice
His attraction to social justice was born early and instinctively. A lifelong passion to do something about the cause of poverty began as a child. On a trip to Tucson, he saw an older person pushing a shopping cart alone on the sidewalk. He couldn鈥檛 understand why that would ever happen. He never forgot it.
His mother was a teacher, and he would volunteer in her classroom. There, he saw that not all kids were equipped for school鈥攖hey were hungry or didn鈥檛 have boots in the winter.
As a young person he knew intuitively, 鈥淭his is not right.鈥�
Then, in middle school, as part of his preparation for Confirmation, he spent a night and served a meal at a homeless shelter. Even in that short time at the shelter, he saw that they had more in common than differences. 鈥淭hey like the Packers; they鈥檙e just like us,鈥� he remembers thinking. 鈥淭hat just changed my world.鈥�
And the idea started to germinate: How can I make things better for folks? In college, he was drawn to sociology and political science because he wanted to change things. Continue reading “An Auggie Finds His Calling”