For recent Eastern Mennonite University graduate Mandi Stoll, the past several weeks since ending her cross-cultural semester at the Washington Community Scholar’s Center (WCSC) and walking in commencement ceremonies have been a “different kind of busy.” Instead of looking for a job and worrying about where to go next, Stoll, with her newly earned degree in social work, is planning a move back to Washington D.C. to begin a full-time job at the same place where she spent her spring semester.
That means she’s soon be reunited with the new friend, Eileen Schofield, who helped to change the direction of Stoll’s life.
Eileen lives at L’Arche Greater Washington D.C., an organization that builds “inclusive communities of faith and friendship where people with and without intellectual disabilities share life together,” according to their website. L’Arche (pronounced larsh) has 18 communities in the United States, and more than 140 communities in 40 countries.
At L’Arche, Eileen and other “core members” live, work, and interact in an integrated community. An outgoing and warm person, Eileen “has the ability to make newcomers feel as if they belong,” according to Bethany Keener, director of communications and development.
If it were not for Eileen, Mandi might not have taken the position at L’Arche. Last November, when she visited L’Arche for an interview, she nervously joined the members for dinner. After eating, the group broke out in song – a full-hearted and full-throated rendition of the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
Mandi remembers looking across the table and watching Eileen belt out the lyrics with a smile on her face.
At that moment, she said to herself, “Yes, this is where I want to be.”
Soon the two were posing for selfies while cooking dinner and chatting away like old friends. Then there were walks through the Adams-Morgan neighborhood, which gave Mandi a new appreciation for the joy of finding small treasures.
“I don’t think I’ll ever find another penny on the ground and not think of her and the delighted smile that crosses her face when she finds a penny waiting for her,” Mandi says.
During her internship, Mandi spent half of her week at the Euclid House – one of the L’Arche communal homes – and the other half at the L’Arche office working in development. Keener, her supervisor, assigned tasks that helped her explore her natural gifts, which turned out to be in grant writing and advocacy.
But at Euclid House, she enjoyed sharing daily chores, mostly cleaning and cooking, with core members, who quickly, like Eileen, became friends.
The relationships that develop between co-workers, and between core members, are more important than official job titles and a hierarchical structure, Mandi says, adding that L’Arche is “a community of equals, not employees and residents.”
From penny-seeking to singing out loud, Mandi “embraced the L’Arche community fully,” said Kelsey Kauffman, WCSC’s associate director of program administration. “Her internship called for a high degree of commitment to their model of community, and she definitely did that.”
Having that experience and then being invited to become a full-time member of the community is significant, Mandi says. “Being offered this position has much more meaning than if I had found a job elsewhere because L’Arche is saying ‘We’ve seen your work, you are a good fit with us and you’re doing a good job’ rather than ‘We think you might fit here, let’s see how it goes.’”
The job offer is a “strong affirmation of my positive experience this past semester and gives me confidence that my desire to stay with L’Arche makes sense beyond me, to the community as a whole.”
It surely makes sense to Eileen, too.
Way to go, Mandi!