2010 Volunteer of the Year Winners

Every year, the most involved and dedicated volunteers from around the Division (Indiana) get nominated by the Salvation Corps or Center he/she volunteers for. These volunteer nominations then make their way up to our Divisional Headquarters and undergo a Committee Vote to determine the winner in each of the four categories: Individual, Family, Corporate, and Youth Volunteer of the Year. Here are this year’s winners:

Individual Volunteer of the Year - Fort Wayne

This volunteer, Ben Cox, has assisted in almost every area of our corps and community center.

He began volunteering in Social Services, interviewing clients and distributing food on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but quickly expanded to the back to school and Christmas season.

He is present all day, every day during our bi-annual intakes, including our two week intake for Christmas assistance, lending compassion and expertise to both clients and volunteers. He has a simple theory, “That every person leaves here feeling a little bit better than when they came in.” He adds that in the past ten years, he feels that every person who has sat at his table has done just that.

A strong Christian, he leads the volunteers in prayer before every task we set before them. Whether it’s sorting clothing, distributing supplies, handing out groceries, or simply playing with the children from our youth center during a fundraiser, he is certain to put the work of Christ before and after every task. He constantly reminds the other volunteers and staff that, regardless of how difficult or frustrating that the task may seem, never to forget that it is all for the glory of God.

He has earned the respect of staff, volunteers and clients. A member of the advisory board as well as the development committee, he is present for monthly meetings to stay current with the mission’s activities, as well as lend his ideas and opinions for changes or improvements in the order.

He has recruited volunteers, including youth groups, senior groups, stay at home and homeschooled families and affiliated churches to assist in our larger projects, without which we would desperately have to struggle through.

Clients that he assists are so touched by his compassion, that they often stop a staff member to remark about how sincere the kind gentleman was, taking the time to talk to them, to pray with them and to remind them that through God they are not alone. One such client was so moved by him that she wrote a paper about him for her class entitled “Christmas Angel” and then tearfully presented him with a Christmas Spirit award for his generous deeds for families in the community.

He is a donor as well as a volunteer, who in the past year has not only adopted a Christmas family, but also sponsored a table in our charity fashion show, donated various items for our charity auction, groceries for the food pantry, stuffed stocking for teenagers in the community, and brought in bags of new clothing for angel tree from his church.

Perhaps one of the most admirable qualities about him is that, throughout his tireless hours and deeds, he remains a humble servant, always sending words of encouragement to staff and fellow volunteers to thank them for their hard work. A true follower of his savior, he looks not for praise or to criticize others, but only to volunteer his time and love to the cause of The Salvation Army.

Family Volunteer of the Year – Fort Wayne

This family, the Stoker Family,, consists of a grandmother, her daughter and granddaughter and have been volunteering with The Salvation Army since Christmas of 2008. Every the past two years, this family has worked in our food pantry every Tuesday and Thursday without fail. At times, family members will come in for additional Social Service projects separately, but most of the projects are performed as a family. Through their hard work, our food pantry served over 1605 cases, including over 4600 individuals which would not have been possible without the family’s commitment and dependability to our cause.

The family participates in The Salvation Army Tools for School program, through the year fundraisers, and donated stockings for teens at Christmas time.

By far, their favorite activity our Stuff a Stocking program at Christmas time. The grandfather of the family passed away at Christmas time; the year following, the son/father passes as well. “Christmas is never an easy time since we lost my husband and my son, and she (granddaughter) lost her father and grandfather. We find that the best way to keep his spirit is to give back together as a family,” says the matriarch of the family.

The granddaughter is in her senior year of high school, a member of the National Honor Society and performs various community projects within her school including “Blessings in Backpacks” provided by the community school district. The family volunteer weekly, stuffing backpacks full of food for children to take home through the local schools. “A lot of the children who have a tough family life go home without dinner, so it’s important to send food home with them so that they can have something for each meal throughout the weekend.”

The grandmother won the Social Service award in 2008, and will be winning the award from our corps for Most Hours Volunteered in 2009. The family as a whole gave over 500 volunteer hours for 2009. They now have the granddaughter’s boyfriend volunteering with them in the food pantry as well. “If he’s going to be a member of the family he’ll have to get used to it,” the granddaughter laughs.

This is a very special family who laughs together, cries together and gives together. They truly show the mission of The Salvation Army, spreading the love of Christ through caring and meeting the needs of all people, all year long.

Corporate Volunteer of the Year – Bloomington

This corporation, Walmart, has been working with the The Salvation Army ever since they came to town. Since then they have been insistent that they wanted to be the corporation that The Salvation Army came to when in need. Providing publicity, funds, food and supplies, this corporation has done more than any other to further the mission of The Salvation Army.

The first effort they undertook was to sell the entire inventory of this corps’ paper kettles. Totalling over 10,000, this was a major undertaking. However as staff made trips to the central location of this corporation, there were more and more signed paper kettles strung through the air and taped to the wall. This corporation sold so many that they ran out of room on the walls, soon reaching 10,436 paper kettles. All the community who came to this location were amazed at the number of red kettles that lined the wall. This corporation’s dedication also guaranteed that the corps exceeded its Christmas goal. Publicly and willingly, this corporation gave back in a way that ensured this corps could do the most good.

The second effort they undertook was to feed the community. The corps was in need of food to feed over 700 households over the Christmas holiday. When this corporation heard of the opportunity, they enthusiastically offered their services, and provided over $7,000 of food. As a measure of dedication, the top manager and his staff personally transfered and unloaded the food. Not only did this corporation feed the community for The Salvation Army, but they did so in a way that cut costs for the corps allowing us to more fully meet human needs in Christ’s name.

Their generosity didn’t stop at Christmas; they continued providing necesarry items to The Salvation Army throughout the year. Donating over 500 pounds of items every quarter to the corps’ social services department, clients have enjoyed food, toiletries and clothing. Thanks to this corporation, even throughout the meager months of the year, clients take home items they find only at The Salvation Army. Numerically small, these donations encourage clients to come to the Salvation Army for unique and necessary items where they will find War Crys and prayer requests to bring them closer to the Lord.

This corporation is highly deserving of the Corporate Volunteer of the Year award. At a time when many corporations cut back, this corporation did just the opposite. It found a charity it trusted. Then through open dialogue and a cheerful spirit, The Salvation Army passed it directly on to those in need. Whether it was paper kettles, food boxes or procured items, the staff of the corporation looked on proudly as their efforts visibly resulted in reduced need. This is a unique corporate partnership, where the corps is constrained not by available resources, but by the limitations of its own imagination. By elevating the Lord’s work through The Salvation Army the corporation facilitates a business environment that greatly deserves this public recognition.

Youth Volunteer of the Year – DHQ

Our nomination for Youth Volunteer of the Year, Catherine Johnson, has had many creative ideas for how she, a seventeen year old high school student, can help The Salvation Army. For her sixteenth birthday, she asked not for presents and nice things, but for her family and friends to make a donation to The Salvation Army. In accordance with her wishes, she raised $515 to give to The Salvation Army! After seeing what she could do, she became inspired to do even more.

This Youth Volunteer has since started a “Salvation Army Club” at her high school and continues planning clothing drives and helps to spread the word about the work of The Salvation Army at her school. She knows that The Salvation Army is more than just thrift stores and disaster clean-up and wants other people to know it too. Her latest idea has been to turn her high school’s Winter Formal dance into a Service Dance. After presenting the idea to the Student Council, it was voted on and was determined to be a great idea! This Nominee and rest of “The Salvation Army Club” collected not only money for tickets, but also donations of winter hats, scarves, and gloves – totaling over 400 items – to help keep those in need warm over the winter! In addition to the winter items, they also raised $200 in monetary donations to support Salvation Army programs.

Her plans for the future are to continue becoming more involved with The Salvation Army by bellringing with the Club, and inspiring the Club to sign up to help even more with events put on by The Salvation Army, while continuing to hold clothing/monetary drives to benefit her neighbors in need.

Congratulations to all of this years winners and to each nominee. Volunteers of The Salvation Army – we couldn’t continue “Doing the Most Good” without you!