Editor’s Note: Thomas (we call him TPayne) wrote it.  Heather posted it.

Greetings fans of DurhamCares!

My name is Thomas Payne and I hail from the great state of Utah in a small ski town called Park City. Where is Park City you may ask? Well, head West and stop when you find a beautiful little valley up in the Rockies with ski slopes streaming along the faces and ridges of the surrounding mountains and hills. Even though I love the mountains, I have spent the past 5 years on the East Coast at school. Most of it was spent in New York and just this last year Maryland.

In high school, I spent part of a summer interning at Bandwidth.com. I learned a great deal working in the customer service department and from the great people who worked around me. My main task was answering phones and helping work with customers to provide a variety of solutions for them. Overall I enjoyed the experience and North Carolina itself.

When it came time for colleges, I ended up applying to the three Military Academies and colleges with the ROTC scholarship. I decided that I wanted to serve my country directly out of college. In the end, I chose to attend the United States Naval Academy.

As of now, I am studying both Political Science and Chinese. I plan to serve in the Marine Corps but don’t have to decide for another 2 years. Upon graduation from the Academy I must serve a minimum of 5 years in the Navy or Marine Corps. I have not decided at this point what I want to do with the rest of my life. I hope I will know in time but am not worried about what God has in store for me. After finishing my first year, I can honestly say I am very pleased with how things worked out even though life, plainly put, stunk for a while.

Since becoming part of the Navy, I have learned that I must be flexible. Thus, when my orders changed this summer, I decided to call my uncle, David Morken, to talk about interning at Bandwidth again. I hadn’t heard much about DurhamCares yet, but when he mentioned the idea of interning there I became interested. I have wanted to do more work for the community after experiencing the work done every day by volunteers in New York City. And, in short, I love America and want to give back to the people. Thus I decided to give DurhamCares a shot. A few days later, I was greeted by Mr. Kaestner, Heather, Mike, and the other great interns

already at work loving their neighbor and I soon felt at home.

My job at DurhamCares primarily consists of video editing. I compile clips into an editing program and attempt to produce a video that gives others a good idea of what we are about and what we are doing.  The program itself is just beginning, and I can’t wait to see how it will grow and perhaps even move out West to a small ski town in the mountains - ParkCityCares anyone?

I have come to love the South, Durham, and the great people who I work with and meet every day.

Very Respectfully,

T.M. Payne
MIDN 3/C USN

Thomas between his Uncle Dan and Uncle David

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