[image description: Four Nordstrom employees in black t-shirts smiling for a selfie. Holding the selfie is Cesha, a dark-skinned, feminine-presenting person with white glasses, a nose piercing, and hoop earrings. Her dark hair is shaved on the sides and dyed blue on top. Behind Cesha are three feminine-presenting people. From left to right: light-skinned, short brown hair, and glasses; light-skinned and dark hair with bangs; dark-skinned with shoulder-length black hair.]

A Volunteer’s Story

Every year, United Way of King County hosts the largest volunteer event in Washington State, Day of Caring. This past September, HSDC welcomed teams of employee volunteers from Microsoft Azure, King County ESIT, and Nordstrom to help with some much-needed maintenance around the building.

The volunteers painted, washed, scrubbed, and organized to keep our facilities clean and fresh for our clients. During lunch, they learned the ABCs of American Sign Language from Bart Williams, our Director of Community Engagement. For one of the Nordstrom crew, this experience made an impact.

Cesha Rozel Thompson, the volunteer lead for Nordstrom, says that “After the Day of Caring and most specifically after our meeting with the guest speaker during lunch, I just felt more enlightened, empowered and excited to connect with others, not only in the Deaf community, but in life!”

“After volunteering I was so excited to share my experience with my family. We conversated about the whole day and what I learned. It was just awesome to share how empowered I felt after gaining more insight into the Deaf and hard of hearing community. My family was so interested and had so many good questions!”

Cesha and her team were just a few of the many volunteers that make HSDC’s services possible. Almost all of our programs, from PIP to our Audiology department, rely on the support of volunteers to keep their services running smoothly. At the end of the day, we try to make sure our volunteers have fun and feel appreciated for their hard work.

Don’t take our word for it. Ask Cesha. “The staff at HSDC was so gracious. The day was definitely one to remember, and everyone involved said it was their favorite Day of Caring experience to date!”

To all of our current and past volunteers, we can’t thank you enough.

Our Seattle office is looking for a volunteer who knows ASL to help out our Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services department. Interested? Email deafservices@hsdc.org.