A Day at Friends of Puerto Rico for Córdova y Fernós Congressional Interns
On April 5, 2019, Friends of Puerto Rico provided the students from the Córdova y Fernós Congressional Internship program with a delicious and dearly missed traditional Puerto Rican lunch. The platters of food from “pernil, arroz con gandules, yuca, y pastelon” made us nostalgic and gave such comfort to those of us feeling homesick. On top of an excellent lunch, they also gave us the opportunity to interact with other young Puerto Ricans living in D.C., which helped us to expand our network and meet new contacts with whom we have a lot in common. We shared our stories and experiences so far and made meaningful connections. They made us feel right at home! Knowing we have support from a reliable person in Angelique, the President, in D.C., makes me feel very comfortable trying to start a professional life in this big city.
Friends of Puerto Rico took this opportunity to explain to us exactly what it is that they do. From their humble beginnings to help the Island after Hurricane Maria, to their newly launched project: Café Ama. This is a social impact project where they use coffee that survived hurricane María to contribute to support children at risk and entrepreneurship programs in Puerto Rico. I think that this is a very unique way of contributing to the development of our youth and can definitely inspire others to think outside the box and look for new ways to give to others in need.
After the lunch, Friends of Puerto Rico hosted a happy hour at Port City Brewing Company. It was definitely a great time in a very nice space that the Brewery provided, but the best part was being among our people and listening to the sound of our music. Here we had the opportunity to interact not only with young professionals from Puerto Rico, but also with professionals with years of experience who have been living in the area for a long time. They shared their experiences and gave great advice, to say the least.
I have had the honor of building a very meaningful friendship with one of the employees at the organization. I know the hard work they put into everything they do, and what this organization means to them. It is also great to know that young, aspiring Puerto Ricans have a friendly face in Angelique, and Friends of Puerto Rico as a whole. Having people you know you can count on and turn to in moments of need in such a big city in these early stages of our professional lives is priceless.
As I said before, I consider this to be such a great organization. I truly hope that Friends of Puerto Rico becomes so well known in Puerto Rico that it becomes a household name. Most of the time, we never learn about the people and organizations that do so much for us and end up taking them for granted. I wish only the best for this organization and that they can keep growing and are able to expand their meaningful mission; they can achieve anything they put their minds to.
