MaryAnn Fraizer

What do you do when you have a passion to help international people learn English? Tutor in an English as a Second Language (ESL) class. What do you do when you have a passion for women, families and relationships? Become a mentor.

MaryAnn Frazier decided to do both at Alpha Women’s Center of Grand Rapids (AWC). Born and raised in Jordan (between Israel and Iraq) and bilingual in Arabic and English, MaryAnn has a love for culture and people. After spending 17 years in Jordan, she came to America to attend Cornerstone University here in Grand Rapids. When MaryAnn graduated with a degree in Psychology and Family Studies, she started looking for a way to work with women and families.

In the summer of 2014, her friend told her AWC was looking for ESL tutors. MaryAnn had experience teaching English to refugees through Bethany Christian Services—she was a perfect fit! A few months after MaryAnn began tutoring for ESL she wanted to do even more—to meet with women one-on-one and build relationships with them. She decided to attend volunteer training and became a Step Up mentor.

MaryAnn wants clients to know that she is here just for them, and has created her own tagline “let’s bond” which she uses when she is first getting to know a client. She says she is highly relational and people are her passion, in part due to being raised in Middle Eastern culture. “I like to listen,” MaryAnn said. “Not to tell people what to do, but just to let them know they can talk, vent, say whatever they want. People have a tendency to jump in and share their own experiences, but I’m just here to listen.”

Although the majority of AWC clients speak English or Spanish, we sometimes have clients that speak other languages. One day, MaryAnn was meeting a client for the first time. When she walked into the waiting room, she realized the client was from the Middle East and spoke very little English. “Here in America, it seems like people are always going somewhere, going to an event, going to do something,” MaryAnn said. “But in the Middle East, people are sitting and talking, with coffee or tea, and just spending time with friends and family.” MaryAnn began speaking Arabic with her and the woman nearly cried. She said it was so comforting to have someone who could understand her—not just her native tongue, but her culture.

At AWC, our volunteers are all different ages and backgrounds, and even come from other countries and languages. This intercultural makeup creates a beautiful dynamic that strengthens AWC and lets us better meet the unique needs of our clientele.