Au Revoir, Destiny!
A cherished member of the ECHOS team is moving on.
This month, we said farewell to Destiny Harbison, our volunteer from AmeriCorps VISTA.
Destiny explains that AmeriCorps VISTA is “most easily described as a domestic PeaceCorps.”
She learned about AmeriCorps when she worked alongside members on a trip with Elizabethtown College, repairing longstanding hurricane damage in New Jersey. Impressed and wanting to give back to the Elizabethtown community, she enrolled in the AmeriCorps’s VISTA program with Elizabethtown College and ECHOS.
Since Summer 2019, Destiny has served diligently with ECHOS as a paid administrative volunteer. She spearheaded our Job Readiness program, building vital infrastructure for an initiative to provide skills training to Etown’s most vulnerable prospective workers. We also admire Destiny’s work with the Elizabethtown Area HUB, a partnership of local nonprofits collaborating to better the community.
ECHOS Social Services Director, Leigh Ann Farling, says she appreciates Destiny’s service through rough times.
“Even though project growth was stunted during the global pandemic, this VISTA continued to champion the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors by extending appointments for eviction prevention applications and job searches and becoming an integral part of the Leadership Team for the Elizabethtown Area HUB. ECHOS cannot thank Destiny enough for the bright hope she has brought to our team and community!”
Destiny feels happy she could help and says, “I think ECHOS has a great mission and vision and as someone who could potentially be one of the clients we serve, I appreciate everything ECHOS does for the community.”
She believes her own background makes ECHOS’s mission personal to her. “I think I have more of an appreciation for our client base just because I’ve had similar struggles to them.”
From here, Destiny plans to pursue a career working with animals. With a bachelors degree in anthropology, primates particularly fascinate her. Right now, she’s working at a local animal hospital and is continuing her schooling to earn a veterinary technology certification.
We wish her luck, but we know she won’t need it.
Beth Dreyer-DeGoede, our Administrative Assistant, worked closely with Destiny. She speaks for all of us here when she says she’ll miss her. “Her infectious laugh and positive spirit helped me through some tough days. She was always ready to lend a helping hand.”
Destiny, thank you for your priceless hand up to ECHOS and to the Elizabethtown community.