Monday, January 10, 2011

Thanks to Our Food Sorters


Monday morning gets a bad rap. There are songs about it, sayings about it, and even movie quotes about it, “Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays.” But here at HSP we love Mondays! It’s not that we wouldn’t love to sleep in or have a little more time for our weekend errands, but Monday morning brings with it some of our most dedicated volunteers – our food sorters! They come in from 9:00 a.m. until about 11:30 or noon, and do just about everything there is to do in order to get the food and supplies ready for our monthly senior food delivery.

Among the Monday volunteers are Marilyn Kinney, Marilyn Sweeny, Bob Mancini, Jane (Janie) Corrigan, Rita Bezdicek, Mary Persinger, Mike Baumgartner, Deanna Cruzan (who brought her daughter, Sarah Hasheiter today), and Dan Bagger. They were quick to point out a few of the regulars who weren’t here today, so they could be recognized as well. Dawn Spiewak, Diane Breese, Sue Mancini, and Roland Imes have given many a Monday morning as well.

So we decided to ask these volunteers a little bit about why they like coming here and what it is that they do while they’re here. It wasn’t easy to get them to stop moving to answer questions, but after following them around the warehouse we were finally able to talk to everyone who came in this morning.

We’ll start with Marilyn Kinney. Shortly after retiring in 2006 she started looking for a volunteer position to keep her busy. She wanted something on a weekday and close to home, so when she came across HSP the fit was perfect and she’s been coming ever since.

Bob Mancini comes because he wants to help people, but he started helping out about 5 years ago when his wife, Sue, was taking a class at COD that required her to do some community service. She came to HSP and they’ve both been coming here since. Sue helps out in the office.

Mary Persinger is another long-time volunteer - she’s been coming for about 3 years. She used to work in senior services an do referrals to HSP, so she knew what a great program we have, and wanted to be a part of it. She also enjoys physically doing things with her hands.

Rita Bezdicek is starting her third year of volunteering and likes the consistent and regular hours that volunteering with HSP allows her.

Mike Baumgartner started volunteering with HSP about a year ago after his church, Willow Creek Community, became involved with HSP. Mike enjoys coming here and feels that Jesus wants him to be here helping out.

Jane Corrigan says that she comes because she has been lucky to live a fortunate life and wants to be able to help people who aren’t quite as fortunate. She’s been coming for just about a year and brings friends along with her sometimes.

Marilyn Sweeny volunteers with several organizations, but started helping out at HSP in November. She was the Director at World Relief for years and had worked with HSP while helping refugees and immigrants through World Relief. She really likes that HSP provides a direct service to families.

Dan Bagger started coming to volunteer a couple months ago and really likes to be able to serve the needy. He likes it so much he came almost daily during the Christmas holiday.

Lastly, Deanna Cruzan has also been coming since November and knows that there are a lot of hungry people who need to be fed. She thinks that should be the top priority and likes helping to be a part of that. Her daughter, Sarah, came today to help out so she could spend time with her mom, but also thought it would be a better thing to do than to stay in bed sleeping.

To all our volunteers, we give a great big THANK YOU! We appreciate your time and all you do for HSP and our seniors.
We couldn’t do it without you.

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