Welcome to my new blog! Throughout this year as a YAV I will keep you updated on the experiences I have serving God here in Atlanta. This being my first post we have a lot to catch up on, I hope you enjoy!
To start I want to give some back ground information on how I got to this point in my life. I graduated from Florida State University in December of 2010 with a degree in Hospitality Administration which is part of the College of Business. I was very fortunate to be offered a position as a Corporate Management Trainee offered by the Hyatt Hotels Corporate office. I accepted the position, packed all my belonging and moved to Sarasota, Florida where I worked at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota. The Hyatt in Sarasota is a four diamond property located on the Sarasota Bay. During my training I worked in every department the hotel had to offer. The last two months of my program I was one of the Front Office Assistant Managers. About here you are asking yourself Thomas why did you become a YAV? When the five months of my training ended certain circumstances occurred and I knew that my time in the hotel industry needed a break. While in college I worked as the Christian Education Assistant at First Presbyterian Church Tallahassee. My main focus was working with the high school youth group as well as other programming for the church. I always thought that working in the ministry would be something that I could do after college but never put much thought into it. So after my program ended at the Hyatt I called the YAV office in Louisville, Kentucky just to inquire information about becoming a YAV the next year. For those who do not know, the Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) is a program funded through the Presbyterian Church USA. To my surprise I was informed that there were still four sites that were taking applications. The catch was I had only a couple of weeks to finish all the paper work that most of the other applicants had months to complete. With the help of Christy Williams, Brant Copeland, Chris Sullivan, and Essie Buxton I got all the paper work completed. The next step was deciding where I would want to spend my year and then apply with the site coordinator. I narrowed my choice down to Chicago and Atlanta. After my interviews with both sites I felt like Atlanta was where I was called to go. Officially on August 10 about a month ago from today I accepted my position with Atlanta. All I had left to do was move all my things from Sarasota to Tallahassee from my third floor apartment. Without the hard work and dedication from my great friend Patrick Manderfield I would have never been able to do it all especially move my incredibly heavy couch down the stairs! So I want to thank Pat again for all he did to help me move! With all the paperwork finished and the moving complete the next step to becoming a YAV was orientation in Stony Point, New York!
Good job moving your couch!
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