Savannah Clare

Internship in Public Health

Dr. Kaninjing

April 24, 2022

Project

For my internship project, I knew I wanted to do something impactful that included the

community that we serve, but at the beginning I was totally unsure how to accomplish that.

Interning with a non-profit has been amazing, however the biggest roadblock can be working

with a limited budget. I knew this would be a challenge I could work around with some

guidance, so I spoke with my supervisor Rieka about a plan of action for my project. Originally,

I wanted my project to be our 30th anniversary celebration! We all sat down and began planning

and it was going to be a big deal for the city. However, after we did more planning, we decided it

would be best for it to be held late this summer so we could potentially have a larger turnout.

Once, my original plan was a no go it was back to brainstorming!

April is a very important month for our organization as it is Child Abuse Prevention

month, so I knew I wanted to have an event geared towards awareness for this cause. Once

cleared with my supervisor of the redirection, she agreed this would be impactful for city

officials and even the public! The goal of me planning this event was to invite all the city

officials and common people in the area to come and sign our protocol and proclamation against

child abuse. We have not been able to do many things in person because of COVID restrictions

but I felt it was necessary for us to come together and do this, and my supervisor agreed. So, I hit

the floor running and began communicating with various organizations in surrounding cities

around Warner Robins to tell them the event we were looking to host. I reached out to the
Rainbow House which is an emergency shelter for children in our area. Our organization and the

Rainbow House have had an amazing partnership for many years so I knew it would be

important to have their support. Once we had the Rainbow House support with the project

proposal, I could move forward in the planning process. I had to make sure a lot of moving parts

were in place ahead of time. I contacted a caterer, mayors, the judge, other staff members, CASA

advocates, Department of Family Services, City of Centerville, City of Warner Robins, City of

Perry, Houston County Board of Commissioners, Robins Air Force Base Georgia, and people in

the community to spread the word of the event I would be leading. My supervisor and I had to

draft up a written-up proclamation and revised the protocol together. We had to send the

proclamation and protocol off to be revised and reviewed by the Rainbow House and Judge

Monica Wilburn to make sure they all approved of it as well. Once it was approved, I was able to

send it off to be printed out on a larger scale for our event, Judge Wilburn was able to send out a

formal agenda sheet to be distributed to the people of the court that I have more indirect contact

with. I called the caterer which was a local donut shop in Warner Robins called Mini Dixie

Donuts and placed a catering order for donuts and coffee that would be available to all the

attendees. I had to go pick up the printed-out proclamation and protocol as well. Considering a

lot of this event was being spearheaded by our organization no one else had to do anything they

just had to simply attend. Once we had nailed down all the specifics and details, I was able to

send out a mass email to everyone to tell them about the schedule for the event. I also shared

about the event on our social media handles to remind people and spread the word to the public.

On the day of the event, everything was ready and in place before our guests arrived and

the courthouse was all decorated. We had a great turn out of people in the courtroom so much

that we had to utilize the lobby for overflow control. We were able to hear from multiple
organizations and important people of the cities stand up and speak about the issue and give their

personal support. This event was just the first stepping stone to an amazing informative event

that could happen every year and increasingly get better and better with time! I know that once

COVID is fully put behind us that this event has nothing but potential to flourish into something

incredible. While we know signing a protocol and proclamation does not fully solve the problem

of child abuse, it is still highlighting a promise that our county is going to be diligent in our

efforts to recognize and provide full support for the child.

Looking back now if I were to do something differently, it would have been three things.

The first thing is potentially being able to find a space that was large enough to hold everyone in

one room but that is something we could not have necessarily predicted. The second thing I

thought about after is if we would have been able to do a hands-on activity of some sort. The last

thing I would have done differently is placed the printed-out proclamation and protocols in

different areas of the courtroom. I had two in the front of the courthouse and one in the lobby

which was purposeful for crowd control. However, people that were in the lobby did not know

about the ones in the front of the courtroom, so we had to keep reminding and directing them to

the front during the signing portion. Which I think may have caused some confusion on if they

were supposed to sign all three or just one.

Also, my supervisor gave me great feedback as well as the other staff members in our

offices commenting on how great the event turned out and how it needs to happen every year.

This event allowed for me to take all the leadership and administrative skills I have learned this

semester and truly apply them to collaborative program planning! Overall, I am very pleased

with the outcome of this event and proud that it was an awesome in person networking event and

chance for everyone to be unified under one roof for a great purpose!