Read how casework impacted Serenity’s heart towards the most vulnerable.
A Look into Casework
Have you ever wondered what casework looks like at World Relief North Texas? What better way to learn than from one of our caseworkers!
Meet Serenity Beesley. Serenity currently serves in our Reception and Placement program at World Relief North Texas. Serenity is fun, spunky, and a light everywhere she goes.
Let’s Start at the Beginning
After moving to Texas, Serenity became involved with a local church and met a World Relief employee. At the time, Serenity was working with a workforce development program at Goodwill, seeking to bridge the gap between the unemployed and potential jobs by providing job training, job fairs, and work experience. As she continued to meet with clients, a passion developed within her to help those she worked with more holistically. In fact, this is what ultimately led her to World Relief: “God gifted World Relief to me. It was exactly the opportunity I was praying for.”
As a caseworker with World Relief North Texas, Serenity’s responsibilities are robust, and focused on helping her clients transition into the U.S. This begins during airport arrivals and includes things like: ensuring housing is ready, taking them grocery shopping, meeting with them the next day and setting expectations of what living in the U.S. looks like. In addition, she explains ALL the paperwork, and simply gets to know them.
What to Expect
For the next 90 days, Serenity cares for those who have been entrusted to her. She takes them to doctors’ appointments, teaches them how to manage money, enroll their kids in school, prepares them for schedules and daily life in the U.S. explains Medicaid, how to apply for a Social Security card, how to navigate the food stamp process, financial programs, and, ultimately, helps each client come to a place where they genuinely understand how we can help them. Serenity walks them through how to get phones, cash their checks and navigate public transportation. She connects them with Family Friends to assist in the ways she physically cannot, and connects them into the community through constant networking.
The End Goal
For Serenity, the end goal of casework has two-sides. As a Christian, she desires to bear the image of Christ and also selflessly serve the least of these that Jesus related himself too. Being a caseworker allows her to live out this passion, for it is a job with the end goal of seeing someone become self-sufficient and pursue flourishing for themselves and their family in the U.S. But, as Serenity shares, it doesn’t come without its sacrifices.
“If I want to care for them and have a relationship with them, I will have to sacrifice my time. I can’t have a black and white schedule for that because they are image bearers. People sometimes don’t fit into the schedule of an 8-hour day. They deserve time outside of 8-5.” It is important to remember that “people deserve relationships. This job has helped conform me to the image of Christ, but it’s hard because that is not our nature.”
Personal Transformation
When we asked Serenity how being a caseworker has challenged her faith, she shared that it has shown her how insignificant she is, and how big God is. She described how she is unable to give and provide every single need in herself alone, and how she has seen God provide for the needs of clients outside of her. She knows that God doesn’t need her but He chooses to use her for His good. Serenity confessed that her constant prayer is to be reminded that she is to be LIKE Christ, but not BE Christ. She prays, “Lord only you can help these people and take on all of their problems.”
Serenity also shared that casework has challenged her faith as God continually and kindly reminds her that He is the one in control and the provider for all. This job has been humbling and has confirmed to her that above all she is a servant.
She reminded us of Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Learn how you can serve with World Relief North Texas HERE.
Learn how you can volunteer with World Relief North Texas HERE.