{"id":9462,"date":"2025-08-24T20:44:34","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T00:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/?p=9462"},"modified":"2026-03-16T10:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:34:14","slug":"empathy-and-action-gwendolyn-anderson-27-sam-skinner-26-at-trinity-jubilee-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/2025\/08\/24\/empathy-and-action-gwendolyn-anderson-27-sam-skinner-26-at-trinity-jubilee-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Empathy and Action: Gwendolyn Anderson \u201927 & Sam Skinner \u201926 at Trinity Jubilee Center"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This summer, amid the vibrant rhythms of the collegiate off-season, Bates students Gwendolyn Anderson \u201927 and Sam Skinner \u201926 immersed themselves in the work of the Trinity Jubilee Center<\/a> in downtown Lewiston through a Community Work-Study fellowship\u2014a program rooted in the Harward Center\u2019s ethos of civic engagement and community partnerships. Notably, Sam was also recognized this past May with the\u202fHarward Center’s 2025 Civic Leadership Award for his extraordinary commitment to community engagement.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Located just minutes from campus, the Trinity Jubilee Center offers multifaceted support to Lewiston Auburn residents, from a soup kitchen and food pantry to a day shelter, medical clinic, job assistance program, and refugee integration programs. For Gwendolyn and Sam, Trinity became a place to turn empathy into action.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Gwendolyn<\/strong>, a thoughtful and curious Bates junior from Boone, North Carolina, found meaning in the rhythm of daily routines: \u201cFor many people in Lewiston, the Trinity Jubilee Center is a hub for the community. Since the center covers a variety of services, people can easily come together while getting assistance and information. Throughout the day, I worked with refugees and asylum seekers, helping them draft a resume and apply to jobs in Lewiston. Although there was routine, every meeting was vastly different, posing new challenges and problems to solve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For her, the experience sparked deeper reflection: \u201cI found great value in not only helping individuals and providing a friendly face, but also supporting the Lewiston community. This position showed me how resilient and supportive the city is\u2014something that has impacted my outlook on the world and has emphasized the importance of community involvement to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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For Sam<\/strong>, whose first three years at Bates were thoroughly infused with community engagement, inspiration at Trinity came from practically every interaction: \u201cMy favorite thing about working at the Center is that everyday is different. On any given day, I might be translating immigration documents, preparing lunches, helping people apply for jobs, distributing diapers to families, getting mail to folks who don\u2019t have a permanent address, or whatever new challenge comes through the door. The needs of the community are constantly changing, so the Center\u2019s mission changes to match it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His passion wasn\u2019t just felt\u2014it was also recognized. This past May, Sam was honored with the Harward Center’s Civic Leadership Award, underlining his meaningful impact across the L-A community. His highly valued community partner, the Trinity Jubilee Center, was among the local organizations supported this year by grants from the James W. Carignan \u201961 and Sally Larson Carignan \u201962 Fund, which Bates students help administer. Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Both students were shaped not just by the work they did, but also by the people they met. Gwendolyn was struck by the dedication of volunteers who came day after day, often juggling personal challenges of their own, just to ensure the center ran smoothly. \u201cThe volunteers completely shape Trinity into what it is. Each day they come in with a smiling face, eager to support the center. I\u2019ve learned a lot from them, and they inspire me to bring a joyful and hardworking spirit to everything I do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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In his work, Sam discovered the power of cross-community collaboration. Working alongside interpreters, caseworkers, volunteers, and medical professionals, he witnessed how coordinated care can transform lives: \u201cThe Center is important to me not only because of its mission, but also because of the people who work there. I have learned so much working beside them, and they have created a workplace that is welcoming and exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the summer draws to a close, both Gwendolyn and Sam are bringing more than memories back to campus\u2014they\u2019re bringing renewed visions. Inspired by her summer experience, Gwendolyn plans to continue working at Trinity Jubilee Center as an academic year Community Work-Study Fellow. Thinking about the many opportunities he has enjoyed through the college’s Community Work-Study program, Sam reflected, \u201cMy community work-study experiences in the past few years have been a highlight of my time at Bates. I could not imagine it any other way. I hope more students consider community-engaged learning and work-study fellowships as part of their Bates experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This summer, amid the vibrant rhythms of the collegiate off-season, Bates students…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monthly","with-sidebar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9462"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9469,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9462\/revisions\/9469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}