LSA celebrates our wonderful volunteers!

May 31, 2016 – LSA Family Health Service celebrated the contributions of our volunteers at our annual Volunteer Appreciation Evening.

Staff and volunteers alike gathered for an evening of camaraderie, sharing stories, and a delicious dinner.  Speakers included staff members: Traci Lester, CEO; Trish Gough, Director of Volunteer Services; Russell Nobles, Chief of Program Operations; Lucia Russett, Director of Advocacy, and Wendy Miron, Director of Education and Youth Services. We also heard from volunteers Paulette Etoty, Priosca Galicia, and Robert Mazziotti. Special thanks to Omniwines for donating the beverages.

Below are words of inspiration and photos from the party…

Joyce Richardson, volunteer tutor
“I thought, ‘the kids trust me so much.’  But it’s not that they trust me — they trust the place, its friendliness and kindness — you can’t buy that.  They’re in a place where people love them.”

Robert Mazziotti, math tutor
“Something that every tutor, I’m sure, has experienced and really appreciates and gets a tremendous amount of joy out of is that ‘aha’ moment when the student finally takes something away that you gave them that’s going to grow in their garden for the rest of their life.  You’ve seeded it.  They’ve accepted it and planted it. …  That’s what I say is the main value to me of tutoring — the opportunity to help somebody step up to a new level of their educational experience.”

Prioska Galicia, volunteer with the food pantry, reception, and Education and Youth Services
“Everybody here has been really welcoming.  If you can volunteer – do it!”

Paulette Etoty, volunteer with the food pantry and The Sharing Place thrift store.
“When I realized how good, how welcoming, accomodating – how friendly this family is, I said ‘I may not have a job right now, but I’m going to give back.  I’m going to volunteer and I’m going to help.’  The joy I see in people’s faces when you put all that food in their basket, that just makes my day.”

Traci Lester, CEO
“Volunteers fuel the engine of what we do.”

Wendy Miron, Director of Education and Youth Services
“The kids thrive because of all of you.”

Lucia Russett, Director of Advocacy
“Our food pantry serves 2,000 people each month.  There’s no way we can do that without the volunteers.”

Click the arrows on the left or right to scroll through photos from the evening’s festivities.