Claire remembers the satisfaction she felt serving meals at Grace Church with her mother as a child. In high school, she volunteered with Bike First, a Portland organization that teaches people with intellectual and developmental disabilities how to ride bikes independently. When she went to college in New Orleans, she volunteered with an organization in the Ninth Ward that put on musical productions for children with cognitive disabilities. For her, service has always been a given.
“It’s been a constant in my life, all the way from my grandparents up,” she reflects.
When you ask why service runs so deep in her family, you’ll inevitably hear about Claire’s great-grandfather Schmidt setting the first example. He was a rancher who sent off one of his heifers to what would become one of the first Heifer International projects. Their family held on to that spirit of giving ever since.
Claire returned to Portland after college in 2018 and began rediscovering hew hometown through new eyes. Just as she was establishing herself, the pandemic hit. Forming new connections felt harder than ever. As soon as she could, she started looking for ways to get involved in something greater than herself.
Connecting with community through service
“I really wanted to get to know the city as an adult,” she recalls. “When I started looking for places to volunteer, we were coming from a time of a lot of unrest. I wanted to find something helpful to do in my community.”
In 2022, a friend connected Claire to the Ambassador Council (AC), a vibrant group of young professionals who support Habitat by volunteering, fundraising, advocacy, and engaging their networks.
“I was so nervous,” she laughs, recalling the anxiety she felt walking into the room of unfamiliar faces. She wanted to make real change and remembers wondering if it was possible to be effective with the group’s “lofty goals.”
After her first volunteer shifts, she says, she was convinced. As she assembled furniture at the ReStore Warehouse and hammered away on build sites, it was impossible not to see the work’s impact.
“You can really see the tangible effects,” she says. “It’s super fun to volunteer and raise real money and still have time to make friends and learn about what other people are doing in the community. I feel like we’ve got a strong balance of that.”
“I feel the greatest joy about working with Habitat and with the AC,” she says. Volunteering with Habitat, she says, gave her extra appreciation for her own experience in a stable home.
Deep roots
Growing up in Portland’s Alameda neighborhood, Claire knows the value of a safe, secure home. She even wrote her college admissions essay on her family’s dogwood tree.
“I was so privileged to grow up in a really stable home,” she says. “I think it set me up for so much success.”
“It’s so important to burst the bubble and get out of the echo chamber and stretch your empathy muscles,” she says.
Going into her fourth year with the AC, she is always pushing herself to grow. This year, she stepped into the Chair role. She describes the transition as “nerve-racking but really fun.”
“I’m so impressed by everyone on the AC,” she says. “It doesn’t feel like work. It’s fun to do these things together.”
Interested in joining the Ambassador Council?
Email Member Engagement Program Manager Tiffanie McNamee at tiffanie.mcnamee@habitatportlandregion.org
Join the AC for this year’s Trivia on the Lawn!
We hope you’ll join us at Trivia on the Lawn on June 26. Tickets are available until June 24.
