Featured Intern: Samantha Aufiero

Samantha is a social work intern who is nearing the end of her placement at United Way of Westchester and Putnam. She is currently spending her time at the 211 Hudson Valley call center that provides our community members with referrals for health and human service needs. Samantha’s responsibilities include screening potential foster parents and performing outreach for the foster care program. She also updates the call center’s resource database and has helped answer tax-related, helpline calls to meet the high-volume of callers during Tax Season.

Samantha is currently a student at the NYU Silver School of Social Work. Prior to pursuing her Master’s, she graduated with a Bachelor’s in Psychology at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx, NY. During Samantha’s undergraduate studies, she attended the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Research Conference in New Orleans to present on the thematic context of social media memes.

“I volunteer at United Way of Westchester and Putnam because I am in awe of their service to the communities they serve” said Samantha, “Meeting the needs of community members is a prominent part of United Way’s mission and I am very thankful to have been a part of making change! I am thrilled to be giving back to my community”.

Samantha was raised and still resides in Westchester, NY. She enjoys photography, traveling, attending concerts, and going to the movie theaters. Samantha describes herself as a naturally a caring person who cares about her community and is delighted to give back and be of service.