What can we say? Our Santa Maria Volunteers rock!
We have over 140 volunteers that help us fulfill our mission to help the families we serve reach their educational, financial and health goals. These generous people are from every walk of life, young students and more mature adults. They work in groups or on their own. They serve on our board and committees to make sure Santa Maria is doing what we promised in Price Hill. They help us maintain our properties, they tutor GED students, they work with youth, they distribute food to our community members, they work with our women’s group, they help bundle diapers for distribution, they make sure our health fairs are successful, and on and on. We couldn’t do what we do without these amazing people.
Our volunteers have done so many important things this year. I think about Ted Mitchel, a longtime volunteer who has served on our Board for more than 20 years, including several years as the Board Chair. He is a retired executive from Columbia Sussex with many years of financial experience. Ted gives a lot of his time to Santa Maria. Not only does he attend Board and committee meetings, he’s also the man of the hour if we have any maintenance requests for our buildings. You can regularly find Ted doing anything from painting lines in our parking lots to installing new fluorescent bulbs, to building desks and painting. He’s a man of many talents!
I also think about Salma Fleifil who has been a volunteer with us for a little over a year. Salma comes in twice a week, every week, to work with our Oyler School middle school girls in our Youth Development’s social/emotional groups. She doesn’t stop there… She also steps in to help with our health fairs, or to take kids on field trips. She’s committed, dependable, personable and altogether lovely.
I can’t say enough about the generosity of our volunteers and the amazing work they do throughout the year. They are out there with us, walking side by side with staff and clients, and we’re so grateful.
For information on how you can volunteer to help families help themselves, please contact me at Lynne.Rinear@SantaMaria-Cincy.org or 513-390-0314. Click here to access the online application and learn about immediate needs for volunteers.
-Lynne Rinear,
Volunteer Coordinator