Pillars of Support
Teaching Crafts in Toledo
A Male Role Model
Counseling at Med Camps
Leaving a Lasting Impression
All of Us Working Together
Varieties of Services
The Rosses—Tommie, 79, and Charlie, 82—are strong threads firmly woven into the tapestry of the United Methodist-supported Neighborhood House in Wilmington, Delaware. Each has given this bustling, inner-city community center three full decades of volunteer service.
The quiet, unassuming couple came to the center after a women's group meeting at their church, Aldersgate United Methodist, when Tommie said yes to an appeal for volunteers. When she arrived, she found a place where low-income and working-class families were benefiting from programs in education, recreation, housing, job training, community development, and other areas of need.
"First I went in to wash dishes and set lunch tables," recalled Tommie, a former public school teacher. "They used to tease me about being the maid."
A change in her duties, however, soon brought her a more endearing title and responsibility as "the Reading Lady." After three decades, one can still find her at the center on Monday mornings in a quiet corner, reading books to two children at a time, opening their minds to a world of fantasy, humor, and adventure.
The amusing antics of Curious George are clear favorites among her 4-year-olds, Tommie reports, although Blueberries for Sal becomes fairly popular whenever she brings in blueberries as edible props. "I just hope these experiences will encourage them to read when they're older," she says.
Charlie, a retired finance director for DuPont, also was recruited at Aldersgate. He started as a tutor but soon became a master recruiter of volunteers and donors himself.
"I was impressed with the work of Neighborhood House and wanted to help out," he explained with a modest shrug. And help he has. During his long tenure, Charlie has chaired the finance committee, served as board president for two terms, and championed an endowment fund. As co-chair of the building committee, he also led the planning and fundraising that produced a new, sorely needed $2.3 million facility for the 72-year-old center. Today Charlie heads a committee that is planning a 27-unit housing development in the agency's low- income community.
Charlie also has played a significant role in Wilmington's successful Methodist Action Program, chaired the District Committee on Religion and Race, and served as board president for the Ingleside Retirement Apartments, a collaboration by United Methodists, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians.
The Rosses' active, satisfying lives are best epitomized by their generous sharing of time and talents at Neighborhood House. Such generosity is the mark of thousands of volunteers who give of themselves daily, weekly, or monthly to support the ministries of United Methodist-related mission institutions around the world. Among these are 100 National Mission Institutions across the United States and in Puerto Rico that receive significant support from the General Board of Global Ministries. The institutions include community centers, residences for women, schools, colleges, and residential treatment centers primarily for troubled children and youth. Most of these institutions were established by Methodist women's societies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Today, more than ever, their complex responsibilities, wide range of programs, and often overworked staffs depend on dedicated, creative, trained volunteers of all ages.
Many institutions clearly are grateful for and proud of their veteran volunteers, judging from the outpouring of letters, profiles, and photographs submitted in response to a recent request for information. Visiting work teams and short-term mission volunteers make important contributions to help these institutions serve their communities and constituents. But the volunteers who are there regularly throughout each year are an essential part of their programs and operations.
Etelia Robinson finds rich rewards volunteering at the Friendly Center in Toledo, Ohio. Four years ago, as part of the state's welfare-to-work program, the 40-year-old mother of three initially was assigned to work in the center's food-distribution referral program. With some free time on her hands, she also joined the ceramics class down the hall. "I already liked crocheting and other crafts," she recalled, "but ceramics really relaxed me and took my mind off my problems."
When the teacher left three years ago, Robinson took over the class and has since added more sessions and other crafts and activities to the program. "I'm the youngest person there," she says, "since the students are all over 50."
According to executive director David J. Morris, "T," as she is popularly known, seems to spend as much time at the center as some of the staff, a comment heard frequently about many devoted volunteers who go way beyond the call of duty.
The Bethlehem Center in Charlotte, NC, is delighted to have Tom Sanders as a volunteer tennis instructor and reading tutor–especially because he is a much-needed African American male role model for neighborhood youth, according to Catherine Chapman, a program director at the center.
Sanders, 52, came initially to help introduce his favorite sport to youth who usually played only basketball and football. Seeing a greater need and a fear that blocked their learning potential, he decided also to volunteer as a reading tutor.
"A lot of the youth are afraid of learning to read at first and shy about pronouncing words," he said. "They aren't getting the one-on-one help they need in their crowded schools. But once they learn the basics, their confidence increases and they start to enjoy books."
Sanders, an airline utility worker who has worked with youth before as a Big Brother and a coach, stresses the importance of education, responsibility for one's community, and respect for oneself and others as keys to success in life. He recently organized an awards banquet to honor his young charges for their achievements.
"I'm patient, but I get tough with them sometimes because I know they can learn," he said. "Still, it's important to let them know they are loved and cared about. That usually gets results."
Role models like Sanders are making a difference in the lives of young people in mission institutions across the nation. And just as those institutions and their communities are diverse, so are the volunteers themselves—varying in their ages, races, and cultures; in their skills and interests; and in their economic backgrounds. Some have volunteered for years in different venues. Others are trying it for the first time and learning gratifying lessons.
Stephanie McElroy, 16, joined more than 160 volunteer youth counselors at Camp Aldersgate in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the summer of 1997. The counselors came to help children with handicapping conditions enjoy Med Camps, a 27-year-old recreational program designed for them. Stephanie enjoyed organizing daily activities, caring for young campers' needs, and finding ways to encourage their self-esteem. She enjoyed it so much that, while other youth counselors generally spend a week or two at the camp, she became the first in the program's history to sign up for an entire summer.
"My biggest challenge was learning to overcome my fear of the unknown," said Stephanie. "That meant learning to understand each child's medical condition, and to look beyond that condition to the person inside. "Even when one child had cerebral palsy and couldn't communicate clearly," she recalled, "I had to spend time figuring out what made her happy and what didn't."
Stephanie returned to devote more than 1175 hours to the camp in 1998. When she returned again in 1999, she was old enough to become a paid staff member in the summer. "I think I enjoyed it more as a volunteer," she said. "Knowing you're there for the kids and not for the money makes a big difference."
In two years at the camp, the teenager has worked in practically every volunteer position, at every special event, and even in the year-round Weekend Respite Program, which invites developmentally disabled children to the camp to offer their caregivers some relief. She has received several awards and was elected to the camp's Volunteer Youth Council. With her interest in science, she also volunteers at school and at the local Aerospace Education Center. But her favorite place is still Camp Aldersgate.
"Without a talented volunteer like Stephanie, who is willing to do so much, we would need another staff member," said Sarah Spencer, executive director. "Her involvement has made a huge impression on us and on the community."
Committed volunteers, especially longtime volunteers, do leave lasting, loving impressions on mission institutions and the people they serve. Adrie Rhodes has logged 19 busy but satisfying years at Bethlehem Centers of Nashville (Tennessee), working with almost every program and every age group there. She began volunteering after enrolling her children in the daycare program, and she became more involved over the years as her children progressed into other programs.
Today, among a host of tasks, Rhodes works in the administrative office, conducts tours, helps serve meals and organize activities with the senior adults, and runs the Kid's Café, which provides hot meals at the center on Tuesdays for children in the neighborhood. Indeed, the staff considers her, as the executive director, Joyce Searcy, puts it, "a pillar of support and, more importantly, part of our family."
"I am enriched, encouraged, and inspired every time I engage in activities to help others, " said Bobbie Henry, a retired lab technician and a 10-year volunteer at the 116-year-old Marcy-Newberry Association on Chicago's West Side. A board officer and top fundraiser for this consortium of community centers and housing facilities, she also participates in its speakers' bureau and helps out in the childcare program, among numerous other jobs.
The Metro Women's Auxiliary, an ecumenical group that supports the agency, was named Volunteer Group of the Year in 1995 by the National Association of Health and Welfare Ministries, largely because of Bobbie Henry's exemplary service.
"It's heartwarming to see Marcy-Newberry do so much good with such limited resources, especially for children," she said. "Whenever I have the occasion to participate in activities with children, youth, or seniors, I am richly blessed by them. Their positive response to my efforts to serve them humbles and challenges me to do even more.
"I have come to realize that everyone has valuable gifts," she added, "and it takes all of us working together to try to bring wholeness to all of God's people."
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (I Corinthians 12:4-7)
Visit and spend time at any of the 100 National Mission Institutions supported by United Methodists through the General Board of Global Ministries. You will feel inspired by the vitality, compassion, and creativity that seem to permeate these remarkable, historic places of mission. Some are more than a century old, yet still vibrant with innovative programs and ideas.
Each offers an individual testimony to the redeeming love of God that saves and transforms countless lives each day. But when they are linked together with one another and with churches, annual conferences, United Methodist Women's groups, and other partners in ministry, they become a dynamic Caring Connection.
The labors and responsibilities of volunteers at these institutions vary widely. Many help organize rummage sales, choir concerts, fashion shows, and other fundraising events. Some provide critical leadership on boards and committees. Others contribute maintenance and office skills.
Still others perform key public relations tasks, including:
Most volunteers, however, provide more direct services to clients—or students, in the case of schools. They distribute food and clothing, do home-repair projects, provide transportation, deliver and serve meals, supervise recreation, teach crafts and other classes, help senior adults enjoy social activities, and mentor children and youth.
The list is probably endless. And the value of volunteers as an essential part of any mission institution's programs and services is inestimable. But clearly, so is the intrinsic value of the volunteer experience to many who seek that opportunity. It is an experience that can reveal diverse gifts and talents by using them in ways that manifest God's loving grace and the creative, transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
John Coleman is a freelance writer and communications consultant to the Community and Institutional Ministries Program Area of the General Board of Global Ministries.
Text and photographs copyright 1999 by New World Outlook: The Mission Magazine of The United Methodist Church. Used by Permission. Visit New World Outlook Online at http://gbgm-umc.org/nwo/.
For reprint permission, contact New World Outlook by E-mail at nwo@gbgm-umc.org.
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