Dublin resident Ellisa Tiscareno is a familiar face to many in the community. Some may know her from her small tax and insurance advising business downtown, but Tiscareno also spends much of her time volunteering with the Dublin branch of the nonprofit organization, the Christian Women’s Job Corps (CWJC).
“My parents always taught me that, as human beings, as part of us being here, we’ve got to help one another,” she said. “My job is to help in whatever way I can, and if it’s to be a part of the Christian Women’s Job Corps, if it’s to volunteer at a school event, that’s not just me representing myself and my organization, but being a part of my community.”
Tiscareno came to Stephenville for grad school in 2015, and then moved to Dublin in 2016. Originally from Houston, Tiscareno found the small town a welcome change of pace. “You could sense that everybody knew everybody already, and I think that’s kind of where my volunteering came into play — I was looking for a way to get involved.”
As she was meeting people in town and putting down roots, Tiscareno came across the CWJC. “They always took volunteers on the weekends to help sort clothes and just to organize the store,” said Tiscareno. “So I said, ‘Why not? I mean, what else am I doing on the weekend?’” She started out helping around the thrift store, sorting clothes and doing other small tasks. In the years since 2017, Tiscareno became more and more involved with the organization, and now serves as president of the CWJC board.
Tiscareno enjoys being involved in this way. “It takes a lot for a small town to operate, and we all don’t get paid to serve on the board of any organization, but we do it because we really want to see our organization and our community succeed, and it takes all of our voices to get that done,” she said.
Tiscareno balances her CWJC work with other volunteering (she coaches t-ball in her free time), along with her small business. She owns and operates Insurance and Accounting Advisors (IAA) in downtown Dublin, where they offer health insurance advising, tax advising and preparation, bookkeeping services and retirement planning. They also operate a fingerprint station. Their business is just across the street from the CWJC.
The Dublin chapter of the CWJC is always growing and expanding to meet the needs of the community. It’s been in town for more than two decades, and was initially started as an offshoot of the nationwide organization CWJC.
The original CWJC started in Birmingham, AL in 1995, with a mission of “identifying, training and mentoring women trapped in poverty, abuse, and alienation.” Over the years, that mission has expanded and the Dublin chapter of the CWJC does many things in town.
For one thing, the CWJC thrift store is a Dublin institution, providing clothing and home goods at an affordable price. They also help out community members in times of need. “Somebody may lose their home, or somebody may need more items because they just have been granted guardianship of their grandchildren, and so we’re able to provide those items and those necessities free of charge,” says Tiscareno.
The CWJC also offers classes for community members, from job preparedness classes such as how to craft a resume, write emails and search for relevant job postings, to skills-based classes such as sewing, self-defense and computer literacy.
In addition to running the thrift store and offering classes, the CWJC often partners with other nonprofits to put on community events. “One of the big things that we do is we partner with the Dublin Citizen and Dairy Queen to put on an Easter Eggstravaganza,” says Tiscareno. “It’s a big Easter egg hunt for the town of Dublin and anybody that wants to come out.”
The faith-based aspect of the CWJC is important to Tiscareno, as well as the community-building. “We do it to connect the community to the word of the Lord, but it’s also to just connect the community together,” she said. “ It’s a lot easier for us to get things done, not just for our organization, but as a community as a whole, when we communicate with everybody and try to utilize all of our resources.”
Cindy Martínez, the Dublin CWJC’s executive director, said Tiscareno is an invaluable volunteer with the organization. “She’s just pretty amazing,” said Martínez. “She’s always available whenever there’s a problem, and she helps me out personally a lot with the organization. And I know she’s available for other people when there’s an issue or someone struggling — she’s always there to give advice.”
If you’re interested in getting involved with the CWJC, come out to the store and ask! Volunteering can look like helping out in the store, assisting with community events, or even just donating your clothes. “Our organization wouldn’t make it without volunteers,” said Martínez.
“Volunteers are the backbone of [CWJC],” Tiscareno said. “It takes a lot of volunteers, and it doesn’t mean that you have to be there all the time. Some of our volunteers are just people that are praying for us, helping us through some of the difficult times. And our volunteers are also those people that volunteer to bring us their items from their homes or from their storage units and leave them there with us to go through. Without those items and those people taking their time to bring it to us, we wouldn’t have anything [in the thrift store] to provide to the community.”
Volunteer spotlight is a monthly column showcasing the good works of Dublin residents through nonprofit organizations. If you would like to nominate a volunteer for this column, please email publisher@ dublincitizen. com.