Strong foundation: UNC community services director dedicated to helping neighbors
Jun. 4—Service trips in college showed Jessica Wallo her calling to lift up her neighbors.
The Lehman resident still remembers her first service experience in Washington, D.C., as a King's College student. Having conversations with people living on the streets and offering them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches set her forth on a path to working with the community.
Now as director of community services for United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Wallo oversees support programs mainly focused on crisis intervention, housing and food at the nonprofit.
"It really meets my personal mission of helping people build stronger, independent communities, and really just helping our neighbors," she said.
Though Wallo's college years shaped the direction she wanted to take, her parents, Olga Torres and Jaime Carrion, first planted the seed for expressing kindness to others and led by example.
"That was a strong influence in my life, to have that caring and empathetic heart of seeing people, meeting them where they're at and not being afraid to just stop and say hi," Wallo said. "It's important for me to continue to fight injustice, especially if people feel as though they don't have a voice, and to be that voice for them. I've really learned that from my parents."
They were one of the first Puerto Rican families in their small town of Hammonton, New Jersey, Wallo said, and she grew up surrounded by family, friends, lots of culture and excitement.
She chose to earn her bachelor's degree in psychology at King's College in large part because of its dedication to community service. She made it a point to participate in many service trips during her undergraduate years, which included time in Ridgely, Maryland, Camden, New Jersey and Mexico.
After graduation, she spent a year working at the Center for the Homeless in South Bend, Indiana, as an AmeriCorps volunteer through Holy Cross Associates before returning to the region to pursue her master's degree in psychology.
She began working for UNC shortly before graduating from Marywood University in 2009. There, Wallo started out doing HIV/AIDS education in the community and then became a case manager for people experiencing homelessness. She worked her way through the ranks into her current role. She now oversees the Community Services Department at 410 Olive St., Scranton, which offers a food pantry and clothing room, housing services and other initiatives.
For Wallo, it's important to recognize that people coming to UNC for assistance may be having one of the worst days of their lives. Each client's background and circumstances differ, she added, so it's never a one-size-fits-all situation. She respects that each person's journey isn't the same.
It's hard seeing the levels of food insecurity and need for affordable housing in the area, Wallo said, and she often wishes for a magic wand or unlimited pocket book to give everyone the most basic needs they deserve. Sometimes, people think these issues aren't happening in their communities, or they put blinders up and assume someone else will step in, she said.
"There are people out there that that is their job, but at the end of the day, these are our communities, these are our people, and it does take a community," Wallo said. "It does take a village to make this change."
She tries to advocate for anyone experiencing injustice or inequality, which can take many forms.
"It's very important to me to speak out when I see something that I don't agree with, and to continue to use my life as a mechanism for change," Wallo said.
Working in the community energizes Wallo, who also serves on the board for Ronald McDonald House of Scranton and volunteers with Your Dash 365 in the Back Mountain.
Every day, she tries to help someone, even if it's a small act of kindness.
"I don't know if that is impactful for them. I know it's impactful for me when I can see somebody smiling at me," Wallo said.
It's meaningful to her when people come back to UNC and say they still hold on to something she told them in their time of need.
"That's beautiful to me," Wallo said. "That's important because I'm here for the people, I'm here for the community."
Contact the writer:
bwilliams@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5107;
@BWilliamsTT on Twitter
