Cecelia assists homeless or at-risk of homelessness Veterans (and their families) find and secure housing within a 90-day period. This includes setting up housing goals and plans of action with the Veterans; motivating them to be active in achieving their goals and searching for housing. She often works with the VA hospital case managers as well as other homeless agencies in supporting homeless Veterans with their housing, medical, financial stability, and basic needs.

Cecelia is motivated to help people become independent while maintaining their dignity and respect, as they work on improving their lives. She believes that a person can be faced with many hardships, but those hardships do not define a person. Their perseverance through difficult times helps strengthen them as individuals, and should not be looked at as a downfall, but an experience. Through facing many challenges herself, Cecelia has adopted this view in trying to be a compassionate and empathetic human being.

Cecelia’s work experience before DNEM has included Account Payables at Mt. Clemens Osteopathic Hospital, assistant manager of Passport Pizza, manager at Edible Arrangements, a custodian at Wayne State University, and an enumerator for the U.S. Census Bureau. She has also been a volunteer for various agencies and has completed four internships required by her Human Services and Social Work degrees including Department of Health and Human Services, Lakeshore Legal Aid, Family Options Guardianship Agency, Core City Food Pantry, and Macomb Community Action- Office of Senior Services.

Fun fact: Cecelia grew up playing different musical instruments along with her three younger brothers. When she was younger she played the flute, but in her teenage years, she began to play drums and bass guitar. She currently plays bass guitar in a band with mutual friends every Friday evening. Another fun fact is that she has always been pretty good at sports including cross country skiing, boxing, basketball, soccer, and football. She played soccer most of her younger life through high school, and played basketball in elementary school and college. She still plays outdoor pick-up basketball games when the weather is a bit nicer.