Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Team Member Spotlight: Mackenzie


The Golden Temple in Amritsar, India
Hey there! My name is Mackenzie and I work in outreach support here at Help Me Grow Utah! I grew up in a small town called Kamas. It’s okay if you have never heard of it, but you may have heard of our neighbors Park City and Heber, which are each only about 10 miles away from Kamas. After graduating high school with my associates degree from UVU, I started my Bachelor's degree at the University of Utah. I am getting my degree in Business Management with a focus on Nonprofits, so Help Me Grow is great experience for me!  My main job is to show the state how awesome Help Me Grow Utah is by visiting with physicians and attending outreach events such as family fairs and libraries. I am so excited to represent Help Me Grow by sharing all the awesome things we do! Read below to find out some more about me!


Here are some other fun facts about me!
    Mackenzie Turner's photo.
  • I have a goal of visiting 20 countries before I turn 20 years old. I am visiting my 19th country this summer (Australia) and have to go to one more before next February! A lot of people ask me what my favorite country has been but I don’t have an answer! I love them all!
  • If I count all my full, step, half, and in-law siblings, I have 18 of them! I also have 15 nieces and nephews.
  • My top 5 favorite books are To Kill a Mockingbird, A Thousand Splendid Suns, the Harry Potter Series (yes it counts as one book for this purpose), Jane Eyre, and anything by Rainbow Rowell!
  • I have been on three humanitarian trips to Peru, Nepal, and India! My favorite activities while volunteering internationally have been teaching English to school children in Peru and teaching a group of 10 women in Nepal how to sew pillowcase dresses!
  • I HATE ketchup. For some reason, the smell and taste really get to me and I can’t even wash dishes that have ketchup on them without gagging. This proves to be a problem as my family LOVES ketchup and they put it on everything!
    My Best Buddy, David!
  • My stepdad has a service dog named Monkey that is a labradoodle. He wanted to get an actual service monkey, but my mom wouldn’t let him so they compromised and got a dog and named him Monkey. I didn't like dogs before we got Monkey when I was 17, but now I love them!
  • I student-direct a program with the Bennion Service Center at the University of Utah called Best Buddies! We match people with intellectual disabilities with students at the U to become lifelong “buddies”! It is one of the true joys in my life!
  • When not working or going to school, I like to ski, hike, and go to CrossFit classes!
  • My guilty pleasure is Skinny Pop popcorn and Amano Dos Rios dark chocolate bars (if you have never had Amano dark chocolate, I suggest you take a tour of their factory in Orem, your life will forever be changed!).

Do you have any more questions for me? Just leave them in the comments and I would love to answer them!




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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 2, 2016 at 1:00 PM

    How do you fund your traveling for humanitarian trips and for fun? These are on my bucket list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Help Me Grow UtahSeptember 26, 2016 at 3:16 PM


      I fund raised most, if not all, of my humanitarian trips. I wrote personal letters and sent them to EVERYONE I knew (even my dentist!). I made serving and travelling overseas a priority, so my expendable income went to travelling! Once I was overseas, it was much easier and cheaper to continue travelling for leisure in the area of the world I was in instead of going back home after I was done serving. Flights are often the most expensive part of travelling, so I keep an eye for domestic and international flight deals through a variety of Facebook pages and websites so I can keep my costs as minimal as possible.

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