Member Spotlight!

It’s challenging and fun to put together teams of people who function very well as a unit but who likely never would have met in any other kind of context. Many have been here for years and have very close connections with each other and staff.

What organization do you currently work for? Our House, specifically the residential care facility for people living with HIV/AIDS – it’s the only place where I’ve done volunteer management. This organization now manages other HIV services and an adult foster care home as well, with which I am involved.

What has been successful in your volunteer program that other members would be interested in hearing about? We have some of the longest committed volunteers, who have been actively involved for over 10 and even 15 years on a regular basis. I truly believe this is because we feel like a great big dysfunctional family, sharing a sense of commitment to the cause of HIV/AIDS – it’s changed a great deal over the years, but the mission and loyalties remain.

What was your favorite volunteer opportunity as a volunteer? I loved being an Our House volunteer, but my absolute favorite volunteer gig was on a kibbutz in Israel in 1981. I “proved myself” as a macho hard working female and avoided having to work in the kitchen, instead got to drive big tractor-like picking machinery in the avocado fields, going way up to pick the highest bounty. I lived in one of the shacks set up for volunteers, with a Spanish-speaking roommate – the only American with others from around the world. I got to speak German and Spanish every day, along with English, and also learned some Hebrew. We’d get up at 4:30 in the morning to work before it got too hot, then we’d be off by noon and able to socialize with each other and our Israeli hosts within the extended community. For someone who had grown up in the suburbs of the east coast, never worked on a farm, loved the outdoors and just graduated from college with a degree in Cultural Anthropology, this was fantastic!