During HIP’s ten-year anniversary event, former Executive Director, Kate Ortiz, recounts her experience in the old HIP office.

In my working career before HIP, I had always had unconventional work spaces. A past office space always ran 10-20 degrees hotter than my coworkers’ offices. So when Linda showed me my desk in the storage room at HIP, I wasn’t too shocked. I grew accustomed to its quirks. The warm temperature generated by the overworked freezer kept me warm in the cold winter weather. The constant humming of the fridge provided background noise to my day. But every time a HIP volunteer passed by my door, they would stop and pop their head in, “Are you okay in here?” I think that storage room office earned me one of many “I work for a nonprofit” badge of honor stories. It also prepped me for how hot that HIP kitchen can get during a summer meal prep afternoon. And it showed me what big hearts HIP volunteers have, always looking out for each other and building strong bonds as they work to serve their community.