City's army of volunteers keeps social fabric intact
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
TRENDSETTING VOLUNTEERS
Karen Witt, 70
* Volunteer for: Partnership for Families, Children and Adults
* Position: Answers the domestic and sexual abuse Crisis Hot Line, recruits hot-line volunteers.
* Commitment: 40 hours a month since 1997.
* About her: "Karen and her husband, Rolland, are always ready to pick up large donations and transport furniture and household goods to women starting their lives over when they leave the shelter." -- Rosemary Miller, Partnership volunteer coordinator
Melanie Smith, 29
* Volunteer for: Tennessee River Gorge Trust
* Position: Ms. Smith was referred to the nonprofit through a partnership between the TRGT and Siskin Hospital's Community Re-entry Services. She is an office assistant helping with duties from filing to special events.
* Commitment: 131 hours since July 2008.
* About her: "Melanie is always punctual and has an ever-present smile on her face. She is an outgoing and spirited volunteer who is willing to tackle any office task asked of her. " -- Sarah Quattrochi, TRGT volunteer director
James Kwee, 17
* Volunteer for: Chattanooga Room in the Inn
* Position: Works with children of women living in the shelter, assists with therapeutic activities, offers homework help, plays games with children; provides birthday cakes through Cheerful Givers, a peer group he organized to provide birthday bags for children.
* Commitment: Twice a month for two years.
* About him: "Rarely do we have teenage boys come and volunteer ... He is a positive male role model for the kids, which is something many of them have never had." -- Jennifer Apps, Room in the Inn child advocate
SIbYl Gore
* Volunteer for: Tennessee Aquarium
* Position: Trains docents, helps with special events; developing new program that will involve reading stories to children about aquarium animals while using props and hats.
* Commitment: Weekly since 2007.
* About her: "I refer to her as the Energizer Bunny since her enthusiasm never ends."
-- Beth Brellenthin, Tennessee Aquarium
After a 46-year career in education, retired Georgia schoolteacher Sibyl Gore became a volunteer educator as a docent at the Tennessee Aquarium.
Each Thursday she works a shift answering visitors' questions while she introduces them to the aquarium's inhabitants. She leads docent trainings and, in May, began training new youth volunteers and registering summer camp assistants.
For her dedication to the nonprofit, Ms. Gore was honored by United Way of Greater Chattanooga as its Volunteer of the Year in Education.
"I have always loved nature," said Ms. Gore. "My classroom reflected that love as I decorated it as a rainforest in Costa Rica, the Atlantic Ocean with a 19-foot humpback whale or the South Pole filled with penguins. The Tennessee Aquarium seemed the perfect place to share my knowledge as a docent with children and adults."
Ms. Gore's volunteerism doesn't stop when her shift ends, though. According to Julie Piper, aquarium volunteer director, and Beth Brellenthin, docent educator, Ms. Gore works special events, makes baskets filled with her homemade shea butter lotions and soaps for the Education Department's Christmas charity, Gifts for Guppies, and frequently bakes birthday cakes for her fellow docents. She even volunteered for a marathon 5K from which the aquarium benefited.
Her latest project, according to Ms. Brellenthin, is developing a new education program that involves reading stories about the animals in the aquarium to visiting children. She has made props and costumes to accompany these story hours.
Also honored by the United Way during National Volunteer Week were BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, corporate volunteer of the year; Karen Witt, community volunteer of the year; Melanie Smith, environmental volunteer; Miki Knott, health volunteer of the year; James Kwee, youth volunteer of the year; and Mary Jo Clark, youth worker volunteer of the year.
