AND THE WINNER IS....

On Wednesday, September 18th I had the pleasure of joining several hundred RSVP volunteers, staff, guests and friends at the Chase Center on the Riverfront for their Annual Outstanding Senior Service Awards. What made the event even more special that day, is that I was escorting one of my own volunteers, who just happen to be the big winner that day, Hortense Priest.

A full house at the 2013 RSVP Awards

I hate to say "winner" because as you look around the room, they are all winners. Each and every one of them. As a volunteer coordinator, I always find myself torn with the idea of nominating someone for an award. How do you choose when you love everyone so much? But here we are and here she is dressed in her lovely read coat and hat and taking it all in stride.

Here is the narrative that won Hortense the award. I hope you enjoy learning a bit about her as I did. She is a lovely and humble person.

Outstanding Senior Service Award - RSVP

Hortense Priest

 

Lutheran Community Services is proud to nominate Hortense Priest of Wilmington, Delaware for the 2013 RSVP Outstanding Senior Service Award. 

Cousin Sylvia, Vol Cor Cher Frampton & Hortense Priest

Hortense has been a valuable individual on the volunteer roster for decades working in several areas at LCS.  Her primary roles have been working at our weekly produce distribution at St. Stephen’sChurch outside on 13^th Street every Wednesday.

Her other primary role has been to pick up bread weekly from a local super market and bring it to the St. Stephen’s Pantry on Broom Street.

Hortense’s time with us has been invaluable in calculation as you rarely get volunteers who are as dedicated and are as reliable as she is. Her weekly work with the produce distribution help us to provide much needed fresh fruits and vegetables to our clients that they normally do not receive at our pantry.  This program helps more than 150 people each week, and Hortense is there regardless of the weather conditions (severe heat or cold, rain, snow) to help distribute the food. Without Hortense and our volunteers to count on each and every week, this program would not be possible.  

Hortense Priest on stage with M&T Bank Vice President Joe Yacyshyn

We also count on Hortense to pick up day-old-bread, baked pastries/cakes and pies from the Acme at Trolley Square in Wilmington, each week to hand out to our clients at our St. Stephen’s pantry. Bread and baked goods are not part of our normal packing list, but it is so nice for us to be able to ask our clients “Would you like a loaf of bread, or a pie?”  Giving our clients the dignity of choice, plus a nice little treat now and then really makes their day and it makes our pantry volunteers happy too that they can give them a choice. We do not even call Hortense, she just shows up each week with the delivery. Without the reliability of Hortense picking these goodies up each and every week, this would not be possible.  St. Stephen’s pantry serves approximately 25,000 individuals each year.

In addition to all of the wonderful things that Hortense has done for LCS over the years, we wanted to share with you some of the fascinating things that she has done in and throughout her community over the years that makes her such an amazing person to us and to so many other people!

Volunteer activities & hobbies:

Hortense Priest on stage with M&T Bank Vice President Joe Yacyshyn

·     * City of Wilmington Clifford Brown Jazz Festival and Blues Festival – sell tickets & merchandise for 23 yrs.

·     *   Attend Thanksgiving Senior Ball at St. Anthony’s for 22 yrs. & Chairperson of the Activity for 7 yrs.

·     *  Member of Howard High School Class of 1952- organizes the events & facilitates ongoing communication between classmates

·      * Member of Mt. Joy United Methodist Church.  Her grandmother was a founding member & all family members have attended there since.- Volunteer for 5 yrs.

·     *  Member of AKA National Sorority serving the community (along with her daughter and her granddaughter).

·    * Member of the Woodlawn Library Adult Summer Reading Program

·    * Usher at Grand Opera for 17 yrs.

·    * Usher at DE Theater for 15 yrs.

·     * Usher at Wilmington Drama League for 12 yrs.

·      * Taught in the Delaware Public School System for 34 Years.

     During her interview for this nomination Hortense said,

      “I truly enjoy volunteering as a way of using my time to do my community service in helping    mankind and giving back to help someone else" 

 Thank you Hortense for all that you do for LCS and everywhere else!!

News You Can Use

For Your Church Newsletter        Prepared by Steve Tindall

From Lutheran Community Services                       October 2013

Editors: This information is prepared for church newsletter editors, secretaries and pastors. Your help in getting the word out is appreciated and will help LCS achieve its mission of “Sharing God’s blessings by helping others in need.” Comments about timing or content are welcome. Contact Steve Tindall (stindall@lcsde.org). 302 654 8886.

New Lutheran Volunteer

Ariana Wakeman – or Ari for short – is our new Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC) volunteer. At LCS, she will fill the position of Food and Shelter Assistant for one year. Her training is underway and soon she will be handling food and housing duties completely on her own. Ari is from the small town of Exeter, NH. She came to LCS after she graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a degree in psychology. She is an active outdoors person. At Rhode Island, she rowed for URI’s Division 1 program. She also enjoys backpacking, climbing, and road biking. Welcome Ari!

More Than One in Five Children Go Hungry

In early September, the USDA announced that nearly 16 million children in America (or approximately one in five) face hunger. In both its housing and its food programs, LCS strives to meet the needs of kids. This is one of the reasons LCS puts so much emphasis on nutrition. Good nutrition among children has implications for a child’s future physical and mental health, academic achievement, and economic productivity. Unfortunately, food insecurity is an obstacle to good nutrition, and Delaware’s food security rate is among the lowest in the nation, ranking 48^th, ahead of only Mississippi and Alabama.  LCS tries to help kids whenever it can, which is why we are able to help so many – about 50,000 last year. One of the really special things LCS does for kids is distribute handmade quilts (lovingly made and donated by Phyllis Milby) to families with small children. The supply is not unlimited so LCS is careful how many it gives away. Most of the time we give them to families that are troubled or disturbed. We find that these stressed moms and dads are often astonished and overwhelmed by the gift of a handmade item and the warm sentiment that it carries.

RSVP Award
Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) has awarded Hortense Priest – one of our long-time volunteers – with its annual Outstanding Senior Service Award for her work with LCS, Grand Opera, Woodlawn Library and many other agencies throughout the community. Congratulations, Hortense!

Volunteer Job Openings - April 2013

Here are a few volunteer opportunities that we currently have open. Please contact Cher Frampton at (302) 654-8886, ext 107 or cframpton @ lcsde.org if you are interested in any of these openings.

Front Desk Receptionist - Opening Filled

We are currently looking for an individual to help work our front desk on Monday and Friday mornings/early afternoon at our Rodney Street location in Wilmington. We are looking for someone who has strong phone skills, is good with the public and greeting clients, volunteers, donors, or anyone coming through our doors.  

Some duties include:
-Keeping workspace tidy and notices up to date. 

-Explain/talk about LCS to visitors and invite them to monthly food for thought tours.

-Collect voice mails and answer phones

-Cover staff for lunch breaks

-Assist program staff as needed (Making copies, organizing files, shredding etc.) 

Movers Needed! (1 to 3 Openings)

We are looking for a few good strong men!

LCS is in need of movers to accompany scheduled appointments to the Westminster furniture garage to help load furniture for recipients onto their vehicles.

Frequency: 1 to 2 days a month.

We can work around the days that are best for you, but we need to schedule this during the week between 1 and 4pm.  Individuals must be in good health, and able to lift such items as beds, dressers, and tables. This program has been hugely successful in helping families acquire much needed furniture they otherwise are not able to obtain.

Food Drive Coordinators (Unlimited Openings)

Thanksgiving and Christmas are not the only times of the year food drives are needed. People are in need of food year round. But many do not think about this volunteering opportunity during the summer. LCS can provide you with step by step instructions on ideas of how to hold a food drive, or you can get creative and come up with ideas of your own.  Ask your church, schools, employers, boy scouts/girl scouts, community center, book club, family and friends to get involved. 

Food Drives are also an excellent way for high school students to earn their volunteer hours. They learn all about team work, time management, marketing, community and so much more. Every hour they put into planning, meeting and executing their food drive counts as volunteer hours. This has proven to be a very successful volunteer activity for both the students and LCS!

Walk Committee

We are looking for some fresh faces to join us on our Walk Committee. I promise you, you do not have to be in the greatest of shape to be on this committee, I surely am not! You simply have to have the desire to make a difference in your community to fight hunger in Delaware. No running required, unless you want to of course! The Hunger Walk Run 5K is being held on September 21, 2013 at Rockford Park in Wilmington. This is an all inclusive family event, where there is something for everyone. The first Walk Committee meeting will be held on Monday, March 25th, 4pm at our Rodney Street Office in Wilmington.

Committee members are responsible for ensuring the walk goes according to plan. Helps to determine the direction of the event, help establish new contacts in the community, and hopefully bring new ideas to the table. New members are welcome to jump at any time, so don't be shy! Give me a call today if you are interested!

2012 LCS Annual Newsletter

Here’s our latest newsletter about some of the great things happening here at LCS.

(Click on image to read)

 

News You Can Use - December 2012

News You Can Use Prepared by Steve Tindall

For Your Church Newsletter

From Lutheran Community Services                   December 2012

Editors: This information is prepared for church newsletter editors, secretaries and pastors. Your help in getting the word out is appreciated and will help LCS achieve its mission of “Sharing God’s blessings by helping others in need.” Comments about timing or content are welcome. Contact Steve Tindall (stindall@lcsde.org). 302 654 8886.

Help Everyone Have a Holiday Meal ...

Start a Food Drive Today!

Demand for food assistance has been so great that we are planning to call on year-end food drives to help keep our food programs going. Last year (2011), we helped 69,400 people with emergency food assistance. By year-end 2012, we expect to help nearly 84,000 people. That is a 20 percent increase in food clients. More food clients means we need more food.  We didn’t budget for this kind of increase, but rather than scale back our food programs we focused on ways to obtain food without cost. That’s a mighty tall order, but we are hoping that food drives will help fill it. This is especially important during the holiday season – from now until New Year’s – when we are the recipient of large and small food drives, and when many folks are looking for ways to give to and help the needy families among us.

Would you consider conducting a food drive? It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to run a food drive. First, identify who you would appeal to. Think beyond your church. You can start a food drive with your neighbors, your family, your work place, your gym, school, club or scouting group. We have a detailed guide which explains exactly how to conduct a successful food drive, and we would love to share it with you. We also have bags to fill up and lists of items that we need the most – things like tuna fish, peanut butter, and rice. If you are interested in starting a food drive, contact LCS Volunteer Coordinator Cher Frampton at 302 654 8886 x107 or via email at cframpton@lcsde.org.

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Graphic Design by: Jeff Batt

Snapshot of a Housing Client

An elderly couple who have been homeowners (with a mortgage) for 15 years are living on a small limited income and raising a niece and nephew. The husband is preparing for a lung transplant. While all this was going on, their car broke down and they got behind in their mortgage. They applied to LCS for housing assistance and we were able to help them with the money they needed to pay their mortgage, avoid homelessness, and remain in their home.