We love having the opportunity to talk with our alumni, especially when they’re as special to our organization as Alexa Rivadeneira is! Alexa was part of the second generation of student leaders of Lori’s Hands at the University of Delaware. She helped ensure that our organization would be sustainable after our founding volunteers graduated. She has stayed engaged in work after graduating herself in 2014, and now serves on our board of directors. We talked with Alexa to learn more about her history with our organization and what she’s up to now.
LH: Tell me about your experience as a Lori’s Hands volunteer when you were a student. How did you get involved? What were your client visits like?
Alexa and her first-ever Lori’s Hands client, Sandy
Alexa: I got involved with Lori’s Hands during my freshman year at the University of Delaware. I volunteered that year with a client named Sandy. My main tasks with Sandy were providing companionship and fixing all of her electronics! In my sophomore year, I became a Co-President and ran our student organization alongside Lisa Centrone. Lisa and I shared Edna and Warren as our clients. Warren had a few different types of cancer and Edna was his main caregiver. We would grocery shop for them on a weekly basis and then spend much of the afternoon swapping stories about life. I visited Edna and Warren for 3 years. Warren passed away the year after I graduated college. Still to this day I call and text Edna regularly and go to visit her whenever I am back in Delaware.
LH: I love to hear that students and clients maintain their friendships long after their weekly in-person visits come to an end. What are one or two of your favorite memories from volunteering with Lori’s Hands?
Alexa (center) and fellow volunteers decorate a client’s tree for the holidays
Alexa: Some of my favorite memories with Lori’s Hands are from a birthday and holiday party that my clients hosted every single year. My client Warren’s birthday was right around the holidays and his wife Edna would host us for lunch and cake to celebrate him and all of their Lori’s Hands volunteers. It was something I looked forward to so much right before leaving them for winter break.
LH: How has your experience with Lori’s Hands impacted your personal or professional life?
As a college student, Alexa (center) led a research project focused on Lori’s Hands expansion.
Alexa: My experience with Lori’s Hands is what led me to my career at a social enterprise called Catchafire. For most of my college career, I thought I wanted to work for a nonprofit. As graduation got closer, I felt like working for a different nonprofit felt like “cheating” on Lori’s Hands! I started exploring what a social good job could look like that wasn’t necessarily in the nonprofit space. A year or 2 before graduation, I had stumbled upon Catchafire on LinkedIn and thought it would be a great resource for Lori’s Hands. As I was looking for jobs, a family friend also mentioned Catchafire to me and they happened to be hiring!
Catchafire connects nonprofits with skills-based volunteers on short term and discrete projects. Lori’s Hands has been able to utilize Catchafire’s services and it has been game-changing for us. We’ve been able to connect with volunteers who have helped us create our first mobile app, designed new logos, worked on our strategic plan with us and so much more!
LH: As a board member, you’re one of the people who’s making decisions about our organization’s future. What are your big dreams for Lori’s Hands? Where do you see us in 5, 10 years?
Board members Liz Bonomo and Alexa Rivadeneira represented Lori’s Hands at CGIU, hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative
Alexa: My dream for Lori’s Hands has always been for us to be all over the country. What we’ve been able to do in Delaware has been incredible AND we know that our impact is destined to expand. If we can have Lori’s Hands chapters in every state (maybe even a few per state), my big, bold dreams will be fulfilled. We’ve already taken some of these steps by expanding to Baltimore and soon to be Detroit. This has been a dream come true.
Lisa, Warren, Edna, and Alexa
LH: Finally, what advice do you have for current students about how to approach our volunteer experience with Lori’s Hands?
Alexa: Approach your volunteer experience with the mindset that these relationships are going to be long-term and deep relationships. I don’t think I walked into my Lori’s Hands experience thinking that a decade later, I’d still be talking to my clients. Taking the approach that these are long-term and deep relationships from the start will make you think differently about how you approach your work.
Alexa (fourth from L) and friends and family celebrate at our second annual gala
