PLEASE CLICK ON Photos TO ENLARGE
Sherrie Napier (top photo)
Jackie Lonon (bottom photo) is a former director of Fayetteville Senior activities center. Charles Heathco (right) is a new volunteer driver for Meals on Wheels.
Sherrie Napier, the new director of the Fayetteville Senior Center highlighted in a
Northwest Arkansas Times article on Senior Center plans on Friday, understands what is needed to increase participation and utilization of the center.
The simple fact is that volunteers are always needed, and new ones seem to sign on just in time to fill the gaps and keep things moving properly. There are never too many, it seems, unless you consider the occasions when students appear to help at lunch and such.
As wonderful as those days are with the glow of youthful energy brightening everyone's day, the need is for more people to come every day or at least dependably on one or two days a week.
A surpising number of the most faithful volunteers are themselves older than the average person who comes for lunch or to exercise or socialize. The habit of working that some developed during the Great Depression simply makes them unable to sit and watch. So they provide much help to others and to the few paid staff members.
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4 comments:
Will Senior Center volunteers have to undergo criminal background and credit checks like library volunteers? Can't be too careful about potential gold diggers, you know.
Most of the volunteers couldn't pass, so they decided against it.
I don't know whether that is true, but this is true: People who lived through the Nixon and Bush years and CAN pass FBI background checks aren't smart enough to be trusted with one of those vans or intelligent enough to talk with!
Aubrey - I appreciate this blog - All the awareness we can get out on the Fayetteville Senior Center is helpful. We still are in need of volunteers and also donations. I'm not sure everyone knows this but we are only funded 49% by Federal And State Funding. This leaves us with 51% to fundraise and/or seek donations. To give you an example our total budget for 2007-08 was 548,660 and total funds to be raised by the center is $340,100. Everyone thinks the center is 100% funded but it is not. I'm not sure how long Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District can keep up this kind of deficit. I walked into this job with lots of money to raise and a lot of volunteers to recruit. I'm up for the challenge because I think it is a program very needed and well worth the effort. Right now I'm working seven days a week trying to find some solutions and get the center in order. I appreciate you getting the word out. Sherri Napier, Center Director
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