Welcome Anara, our new intern

We at Faithful Friends are excited to announce a new temporary staff member: Anara Gillock. She is the second intern to work with us and represents a second local university where she is working on completing her B.A.. We asked Anara to share a bit about her background and why she chose Faithful Friends for her internship:

Anara shares:

I was adopted in 2003 when I was five years old. I originally came from Almaty, Kazakhstan, but I have grown up in Portland for most of my life. I am currently attending Multnomah University, where I am working on my Bachelor's degree in Global Studies. My major requires me to do an internship in the field of children at risk. That is how I ended up interning for Faithful Friends.

Anara will be working under the supervision of Chon Armsbury, one of our Program Coordinators. She feels most drawn towards the administrative side of nonprofit operation, though she’ll also get the chance to work directly on the program side as well. Due to her own experience being adopted, she sees her future working somehow in international adoption and really believes it is a calling from God to walk into this work helping children at risk and families in need.

This internship is my way of dipping my toes into the nonprofit world geared towards children. I look forward to being able to expand on my college learning in a practical and hands-on kind of way to get a more holistic perspective. In addition, I look forward to working with the Faithful Friends staff and being able to help them in their work in offering service to the communities. 

Anara’s family has a long history with Faithful Friends. Her dad Gene has been a mentor for many years, as well as some of her siblings. As a result of the life-changing mentoring relationships she has been a part of experiencing first hand, she was happy to check in with us as she began to consider her internship options to see if she could be of use to us as Faithful Friends looks to have a very busy year. Thanks Anara for helping us out and we can’t wait to see what God has in store for you in the future as you look to serve Him, through others.