Meet Elisa

Every Monday, Elisa travels from one classroom into another to volunteer as a job coach in our Job & Leadership Training. She helps our students learn job-readiness skills and prepare for employment. Often, Elisa is laughing with students and making them feel at home. She says volunteering and getting to know our students is the happiest time of her week. “There’s someone to catch them when they fall,” she adds as a reason why she volunteers.

Elisa began volunteering in 2014. After hearing about us during a service at The Journey, she began volunteering in Beyond School to help students with their homework and reading assignments. Later that year, she spent her Saturday mornings volunteering at Revive Thrift Shop as an assistant to customers. Elisa was also a personal shopper during our annual Affordable Christmas event, where she helped families shop for Christmas gifts. Her desire to serve expanded as she began volunteering in JLT this year.

Elisa enjoys getting to know the people we serve and helping impact their lives. As a school teacher, being with our students reminds her of the many moments she spends with her own students. One moment she remembers while volunteering is being introduced to JLT students and the formal respect they showed to her by shaking her hand, giving her a friendly smile and making direct eye contact. Through this interaction, Elisa felt welcomed by our students and she realized that serving with us was the right choice.

With her contagious laugh and outgoing personality, Elisa is one of our most active volunteers today. She attends trainings to become a better job coach to our students and joins us at JLT graduations to support the students she has watched grow in 8 weeks. This past year, her brother, Ryan, joined her as a job coach for our winter session. Elisa’s service is helping empower our Job & Leadership students to be leaders in their families and communities. She plans to continue being a job coach and helping us out anywhere she can. “If I won the lottery, I would donate to Mission: St. Louis,” she says while laughing.

If you are interested in volunteering in any of our programs, please contact the following for more information:

Beyond School

Jennifer Broach (St. Louis College Prep) - jennifer.broach@missionstl.org

Lakeyra Stephens (The Spanish School) - lakeyra.stephens@missionstl.org

Job & Leadership Training

Cami Kasmerchak - cami.kasmerchak@missionstl.org

Revive Thrift Shop

Juliette Nahrgang - juliette.nahrgang@missionstl.org