Travelers Aid

I'm finishing up my first month working at the airport. My official employer is Heartland Alliance, a very large social service organization in Chicago. My specific office is called Travelers Aid. I work with 3 other full time employees and 46 volunteers.

Travelers Aid began in St. Louis in the 1800's to serve the needs of people moving west. There is a brief history of Travelers Aid here.

Our volunteers are mostly retired, many from the travel industry. They are a very interesting group, and I've enjoyed getting to know them. One of the volunteers, Ellen, spent a few years working as a nurse for Catholic Charities in Vietnam during the war. She has a lot of great stories. I am still waiting to see some of her photos from her trip to Taiwan in the 60's. All of the volunteers have their own interesting stories to tell.

What I do changes from day to day. We meet incoming refugees on a daily basis. We assist a lot of first time, non-English speaking travelers at the request of family members and friends. If a client has a crisis and is need of social service support, they are normally sent to our office. We also meet infants from Korea and Liberia that are arriving to meet their adoptive families.

The airport is a very interesting place to work. I enjoy interacting with people from all over the world and being able to use my limited language skills. Being here, though, really doesn't help my impulsive desire to travel. In my downtime I sit and think about where want to fly next.