Julie Fredricks - Volunteer Manager

Julie Fredricks
Volunteer Manager

"As Americans, we also need an 'in your face' type of education about how the majority of the world lives, conditions we need to see to believe and once we’ve seen them, do the something we can do to help our global neighbors."

About Me

As I reflect on nearly ten years with Global Volunteers, I marvel at how we have grown and evolved. When I started, we had seven employees and almost an equal number of service sites. We have a lot to be proud of and a lot of people to thank for where we are today.

I came to Global Volunteers as a newlywed, married for only five months. It’s hard for me to believe that so much time has passed. As my husband and I look toward another anniversary, we realize we have changed a lot as individuals and as a couple in those past years. For three and a half years I worked in the Little Canada headquarters and when I was six months pregnant, in the late 90’s, management graciously permitted me to begin telecommuting.

The new arrangement worked out very well for all of us. In 2004, we happily wecomed our second son to our family and I continued to work for Global Volunteers full-time from home. This is a great testament to our company and how shared loyalty and understanding can sustain a win-win situation. For this I will always be grateful to everyone at Global Volunteers.

My Professional Life

I have a bachelors degree in Media Communications (with a concentration in public relations) and Marketing, earned from Saint Mary’s College in Winona (now the University of Saint Mary’s in Minnesota). Prior to my employment with Global Volunteers, I worked in development communications and special events for the Minnesota Suburban Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP.)

My Favorite Things

I have had the distinct pleasure of serving on many US and international service programs with Global Volunteers. They have not only improved my ability to recruit volunteers, but each of these experiences has also changed me as a person in subtle and profound ways. Not to mention, I have had the pleasure of making a few genuine friends from fellow team members.

While serving in Ecuador, we teammates spoke of how much an education could mean to the local children, in terms of setting them up for a better life. As Americans, we also need an “in your face” type of education about how the majority of the world lives, conditions we need to see to believe and once we’ve seen them, do the something we can do to help our global neighbors.

When I am not working for Global Volunteers, I volunteer at an unplanned pregnancy center where I assist girls and women for whom pregnancy is a time of crisis. I also consult and write for a Chippewa Band’s tribal newspaper in Minnesota. I enjoy a close extended family that has maintained a decades old tradition of Sunday dinners at the grandparent’s house. The only thing that has changed is that my parents are now the grandparents and my child and nephews are the grandkids. My husband was raised in Tucson, Arizona and so we occasionally spend winter holidays there. It’s impossible to say what the next ten years will bring for me or for any of us. I am just happy to have been around to witness and participate in the second half of the 20th anniversary we all share this year. I’d sure do it again in a heartbeat.