From Volunteer to Staff: Meet Angie!

Meet Angie Weng, our current Walk With U Mentoring Program Coordinator, who got her start as a CAA volunteer!

“I first heard about CAA last summer at my church's Summer Conference. There, God reconnected me with Jessica an old friend that I met a church conference. I shared with her that I was wrapping up my studies in Psychology with a desire to work with kids and adolescents and she shared about Center for All Abilities and the organization's mission. Jessica suggested I look into serving at CAA as a mentor. She recommended I speak to another friend, Alison as well because she also worked in CAA. Although I was very interested in joining CAA, I was hesitant due to already serving as a youth advisor for my church and had other commitments. However after speaking with Jessica and Alison and hearing about their time at CAA and praying about it, God opened the door for me into CAA. I became a mentor at the Walk With U (WWU) program because I want to have a genuine one-on-one relationship bond with the participants.

I want to be a part of their journey and see their spiritual, developmental, and individual growth play out. I want to ride along with them through the victories and celebrations but also through the hardships and struggles.

Growing a Garden Inside and Out

Of all the wonderful memories I have from my experiences with WWU, my favorite would be our outings at the Community Garden last year. It is my favorite memory because as a team we were all working together to help provide a warm haven for the LES community. As we were planting and fertilizing the soil, some of the neighbors walking stopped to thank us for our work. During this outing, we were able to build a deeper connection and relationship with our mentor/mentee, grow closer with other mentors and mentees, serve the community as a body of Christ, and learn about the time, care, and effort that goes into maintaining beautiful plants and gardens.

Initially as a mentor, I was prepared to give and serve but what I didn’t expect was receiving so much more. Serving as a WWU mentor has helped me grow in my faith. WWU and CAA has given me the opportunity to make meaningful and long lasting friendships with a community of brothers and sisters who are passionate about serving Him and His people. Like the community garden, I also found CAA and WWU as a haven in the community. Working with my mentee, Jack, has been a wonderful experience and I am excited to continue building a bond with him. He has taught me to embrace my creativity and encourage me to be confident in my ideas. Jack is an incredibly talented, creative, and smart individual.

Serving as a mentor has been such an enriching and rewarding experience.

I’ve learned that children and teens with special needs that may sometimes struggle with expressing their thoughts and ideas but also are very talented, creative, caring, and genuine individuals.

A New Role

In the last year, I shifted to a new role as WWU’s program coordinator because I really love both CAA's and WWU mission. I really enjoyed serving as a mentor and wanted to continue be involved in the mission. As a mentor, I loved getting to know not only my mentee but all the other mentees as well. I really enjoy hearing about their ideas and projects/artworks with me, playing board games with them, having discussions with them, or just listening to them share about what is happening at school or home.

It has been amazing seeing and hearing stories about how much WWU has grown in the last few years. I pray that God can continue to allow this program to change even more lives. As the new program coordinator, I am excited to part of its growth and development in the coming years. I pray that God can guide and use me to bring new things to the table. Although there will no doubt be challenges and obstacles, I am grateful and know that He has provided a wonderful team of staff, volunteers, and mentors to back me up.”

-Angie Weng, WWU Mentoring Program Coordinator