Hello, my name is Mary Donovan and I’m a native of Maine who hates winter—and here I am in Buffalo. Even people from Maine think I must be crazy to want to spend a winter in Buffalo. Time will tell which winter is worse.
I graduated this past summer from Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC with a B.A. in Creative Writing. I hope to some day get an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, but I also want to do a lot more with my life than go to school and write.
The essential things people should know about me are that I love the color red, listening to music, eating peanut butter out of the jar, exercising, reading good fiction, growing in my faith, and hearing people’s stories—real or imagined. I think people are the most interesting things to read and write about because they’re so complex.
This year is very exciting for me because devoting a year to service is something I’ve thought about doing for a few years now and something I’ve been certain I’ve wanted to do for over a year. I chose CCSC because of the four pillars (especially the Social Justice and Spirituality pillars) and because it seemed to be a welcoming, accepting, and supportive program (and so far, I have found this to be true).
My placement is with Catholic Charities Immigration and Refugee Assistance where I work as an Immigration Specialist Aide. The main things I do are help refugees apply for Green Cards and helping them apply to bring relatives to the United States. I truly enjoy going to work every morning, hearing the stories of the people I serve, meeting the challenges of the job, and learning from the people I serve.