Meet Christina, a refugee youth mentor who goes above and beyond to support her mentee!
Christina with Angel’s family
Refugee youth mentor Christina Hummel was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio before moving to Chicago in 2007 to attend college at DePaul University. She majored in Economics and started her career in banking, moving to London to work at UBS after graduating. She also lived in New York for a few years before moving back to Chicago to work for a software company.
Christina stated that she “always valued volunteering wherever I live, as it was an important aspect of my family life growing up and makes me feel connected to my community as an adult”. It was Christina’s most recent stint in Chicago that she began volunteering with refugees via RefugeeOne, and she believes that it was such a rewarding experience that she wanted to continue her work with refugees no matter the city she was living in. Serendipitously, Christina’s husband is the cousin-in-law of US Together behavioral health case manager, Nick Pichichero, so she was thrilled to volunteer with UST when she moved to Cleveland!
Since January, Christina has been working with her mentee, Angel, who is 14 years old and from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During a typical mentoring session, Christina will go to Angel’s house, speak with her mom, Charity, and play with Angel’s six siblings before cracking open some books and begin reading. Christina said that Angel has “improved incredibly because of her hard work and dedication”. Now, Angel is beginning to read Swahili in addition to honing her English reading skills! When they aren’t focusing on school work, Christina and Angel love to go to Edgewater Park, take photos, and dance.
Angel is a 14-year-old refugee from DRC
“Angel has improved incredibly because of her hard work and dedication.”
Refugee youth mentors, like Christina, are essential when it comes to supporting Cleveland’s refugee youth navigate remote learning, and the US Together staff is so grateful for our mentors dedication and passion during this difficult year. If you would like to help Cleveland’s refugee youth, you can do so by supporting US Together’s Summer Youth Program!
Click the button below to learn more about how you can help, and thank you so much for your support!