(Photo/Anna Bracher)
Unsung Hero and Administrative Assistant of Athens Nonprofit Sacrifices Daily to Help Her Clients in Need
By: Anna Bracher
It’s 2 pm on a Wednesday at The Sparrow’s Nest, in Athens, GA. It’s a cold and bleak rainy day outside, but the building interior is a cozy and welcoming hive of activity. Hannah Wise sits at her desk, holding neatly folded prescription receipts and copying them to the computer while joking with her coworkers about football teams. She wears a t-shirt that reads “tomorrow needs you,” and has the suicide prevention hotline number on the back.
When the doorbell rings, Wise immediately jumps up from her desk with a smile on her face to open the door for a man in khakis and a thin hoodie. “How can I help you, sir?” she asks, beaming. He tells her he needs help with a voucher, so she ushers him to her desk, where she begins to help him. Seconds later, another man walks in, in search of clothes for an interview outfit, and Wise patiently smiles and walks him to the clothes closet, even though 64 emails remain unread on her computer.
The closet and the help with vouchers are just a few of the services that this organization provides. In the course of an hour, Wise directs people to the food pantry, showers, and laundry room, as well as giving them help with other social services tasks.
Hannah Wise, the Administrative Assistant at The Sparrow’s Nest, works on everything from documenting receipts and answering emails to helping people find the clothes they need at the distribution center where she works in Athens, GA.
(Photo/Anna Bracher)
The Sparrow’s Nest, founded in the early 1990s, is a significant force in Athens for “creatively meeting the needs of people at risk,” according to their mission statement. It is one of six programs listed for health programs and education on the Athens-Clarke County government website.
2022 holds the greatest number of individuals experiencing homelessness in 10 years, and the levels of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness is the highest reported since 2017, according to the 2022 Athens-Clarke County HIC and PIT report, Athens-Clarke County is awarding $14,968 to The Sparrow’s Nest this year, and people are flocking to receive their services. That kind of need requires a lot of administration and hard work to respond to.
Most of that burden falls on Wise, who does everything with a kind word and a smile. “I just feel like the other staff think she does ‘lighter work,’ but the place literally could not run without her,” says her previous coworker, Kaitlyn Lambert, who calls her “such a kind-hearted person.” Wise puts all of her spare time into the job because it is what she cares most about. “What gets me out of bed in the mornings, I think, would honestly be this job,” she says.
Wise opens the front door of The Sparrow’s Nest to greet a man in search of the clothes closet.
(Photo/Anna Bracher)
When a man with a walker comes to the front desk seven minutes before she’s supposed to close for the night, asks for an ID, and realizes he left his documentation behind, Wise smiles and says “I got you,” telling him she will stay behind until he gets back.
“If I could take everyone home, I would,” Wise said. And for her, it’s personal. “I think people might think because I'm working on the other side, I'm working with people who are having their own difficulties, doesn't mean I haven't struggled myself. So, I struggle with depression, anxiety, and OCD really heavily also. So but I think that it's so important to talk about those things and have them in the workplace because a lot of people struggle with that in the workplace,” she said.
She doesn’t want people to have a stigma around those experiencing homelessness. She says that people say things like ‘just get a job,’ but they don’t think about things like where that person will shower for the interview, get an ID card, or find clean clothes to wear.
Why I Wrote The Story
I wrote this story because I wanted to celebrate an unsung hero in the nonprofit world. I had a contact in Sparrow's Nest and very much admired the company already, so I asked my contact who she thought was an unsung hero. She gave me Hannah Wise's number. This story is newsworthy because Hannah has never been interviewed, and because poverty and homelessness are big problems in Athens, especially in the wake of continually-rising housing prices.