Volunteer Spotlight! Meet Terri Mierswa, HHR’s Driving Coordinator

Meet volunteer Terri Mierswa, HHR’s Driving Coordinator. Since 2021, Terri, a licensed clinical social worker from New Jersey, has volunteered more than 100 hours in support of newly arrived refugee families. 

After serving as the driving coordinator for the first volunteer cohort she was on, Terri stepped up to support driving needs for all refugees in the HHR network. Driving volunteers, Terri says, address an often overlooked challenge that refugees face as they settle into a new life. Without a driver’s license, funds for a personal vehicle or expensive car rides, and the difficulty of navigating sparse public transportation in new and unfamiliar neighborhoods, it can be a struggle for refugees to reach important appointments and make strides towards self-sufficiency. 

Terri and her roster of HHR drivers fill this gap. Volunteers drive refugees to appointments with doctors, social security and benefits offices. They bring families to schools to enroll children and the public library to sign up for ESOL. Drivers support community orientation, bringing refugees to specialty grocery stores to meet their cultural and dietary needs, and enable refugees to network in their new community by bringing them to social events including with local houses of worship.

“It’s more than just driving,” said Terri. “The drivers often play an important role helping refugees navigate questions or to schedule new appointments - things that we take for granted but that are really big events for our new neighbors.”

Terri has also found driving to be one of the best introductions to meeting new families. She encourages volunteers to use time in the car to help refugees practice English and get to know each other. 

“Over time, you really get to know each other,” said Terri. “They’ll invite you into their homes and offer you tea and nuts. They want to give you something at the same time that you’re giving them something, so it develops into a mutual relationship.”  

After two years of volunteering with HHR, Terri sees no end in sight for her volunteer work. 

“In a way it is difficult to express why I am involved in this volunteer work,” Terri said. “ It just seems like this is where I belong at this time of my life, and it is the new friends whom I have met from Afghanistan and other countries who have inspired me to try as best I can to be there for them.”

To learn more about the many different opportunities to lend a hand in welcoming our new neighbors, click here. To connect with our Volunteer Coordinator, contact Lori Kapner Hosp at lorikapnerhosp@gmail.com.