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Crittenton Services' Junior Board Seeks New Volunteers Above:Crittenton Services' newly-elected Junior Board officers, from left: Carrie McKenzie, president; Josalyn Ice, treasurer; Libby Reasbeck, vice president; Shirley Dvorcek, secretary. The Junior Board, the volunteer organization serving the local non-profit behavioral health treatment service Crittenton Services, recently elected new officers and is putting out a call for new volunteers. Carrie McKenzie was elected president, with Libby Reasbeck as vice president and Shirley Dvorcek as secretary. Josalyn Ice is returning as treasurer. "We are eager to start our next 60 years of service with the wonderful core of volunteers already involved," according to McKenzie, "and we look forward to bringing in new energy and talent from the local area." The Junior Board supports the general mission of Crittenton Services: to embrace children and families in need with nurturing services to help them achieve self-sufficiency. Its general purpose is to support and provide educational, enrichment and social activities, as well as fundraising efforts to support them, for the residential clients and their babies. Since its creation in 1941, Crittenton's Junior Board has been an integral part of the agency. From its early days to the present, this volunteer organization has a positive impact on the girls served by Crittenton's residential program. Some members participate in a monthly activity evening with the girls, while others are involved in a more customized program through which they can use their unique talents and skills to teach or enhance life experiences of the residential clients. Still others choose to concentrate upon fundraising efforts. "We like to match each volunteer's personal strengths and interests with the needs of the young women in the residential program," said Crittenton Special Events Coordinator and Volunteer Liaison Judi Hendrickson. "Some of our volunteers have highly specialized areas of expertise and are able to impart valuable knowledge to these young people, while others are happier simply playing games and doing craft activities with them. Some just prefer to hold babies while their young mothers are involved with an activity with other volunteers." "Most of the volunteers meet monthly to spend time with the young women in Crittenton's residential program," McKenzie noted, "but some who are not able to attend the monthly activities arrange to help at other times. We are literally fueled by the infusion of goodwill, creativity and genuine caring of our volunteers. The staff at Crittenton do an excellent job with treatment and education and so much more, but these girls in the program who have had such hardship in their lives can often be most profoundly affected by the words and deeds of a caring member of the community. They know these volunteers are not doing this because it is their job, but because they really care. That's a gift these young women will carry with them long after they leave Crittenton's care – and the volunteers carry with them the gift of knowing that they have made a genuine difference in the lives of these girls." |
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