July & August Volunteer of the Month

Posted on November 23, 2010 12:18

August Volunteer of the Month

When the surprise announcement was made during a service at Yankton’s First United Methodist Church, that Jane and Tom Gilmore had been named United Way’s August Volunteers of the Month, they weren’t sitting together because – fittingly – they were busy with a volunteer activity.For fifteen years, this couple has been part of a team involved in the church’s wheelchair ministry, driving a special van, supervising bringing six or so wheelchair-using folks to services. That last Sunday in August, they were each seated with a group of their passengers in different parts of the sanctuary.

Later that week, they drove a livestock trailer and fifteen-passenger van to Mission, SD. These vehicles were filled not with livestock and passengers, but with “beds and chairs and so on.”

This was just one of about fifteen annual trips the couple makes to the Rosebud Reservation under the auspices of Tree of Life, an ecumenical relief agency begun in 1990 by the Dakotas Conference of the United Methodist Church, but now involving volunteers from multiple denominations and twenty-four states.

Tom is vice-president of the Tree of Life board, and clearly proud of its programs. Through Tree of Life, Volunteers in Mission – forty to ninety of them each week –come to the reservation for work visits from April through October.

This year, the Gilmores have also taken several truckloads to Marty in response to needs created by flooding. The last time, they delivered not only needed supplies, but Tom, a retired obstetrician-gynecologist, realized he had also delivered every one of the young people who came to help unload!

The Yankton affiliate of Habitat for Humanity is another agency benefiting from the Gilmores’ volunteer efforts. Jane has been part of the group since its founding in 1996, including service on its board. Both now are involved in family mentoring, and also raise money as part of a team taking part in Minnesota’s Habitat 500 bike ride each summer.

Jane has ridden eleven times and Tom six, to raise awareness and money, 100% of which comes back to the local affiliate. Jane noted that the Yankton team has “probably bought a house-and-a-half anyway.” Both of them were quick to add that they had the “fun” part – though not every day of a 500-mile bike ride can be seen as fun! – and credited their success to Yankton’s generosity and the support of individuals, businesses, and the whole community.

Tom has taken his volunteering outside U.S. borders with seven trips to Haiti, including the most recent, a post-earthquake visit in February. Sometimes he has gone with the group Helping Hands for Haiti, and other times on his own. The last three Augusts (2007-2009), he has spent a month relieving a local ob-gyn at the Hospital Albert Schweitzer about seventy-five miles from Port au Prince.

The hospital, he said, had not suffered any damage in the quake, but, when there in February, he saw “lots of damaged people.”

The two are also respite care providers through Avera Sacred Heart Hospice, staying with patients while family members and other caregivers get a break. And Jane has tutored 7^th- and 8^th-grade math students at the Yankton Middle School for the last eleven years.

When asked why so many of her volunteer activities seemed to begin in earnest eleven or twelve years ago, Jane looked surprised and then answered, “That’s when I stopped raising sheep!”

Now the two of them are raising houses, grades, hope, and so much more through the countless hours they spend volunteering. Why do they do it? Tom says his volunteer work means “Jane gets a break; I don’t bother her all the time.” Jane said, “I don’t have to stay home and clean house!”

But both also welcomed the opportunities to “keep thinking and doing.” They see need and try to help, and encourage others to do so, too. Tom said, “Everybody has something to offer, and I think the rewards are greater than the energy expended and the time spent.”

July Volunteer of the Month

United Way & Volunteer Services is happy to announce that the July 2010 Volunteer of the Month is Fernande ( Nona ) Bistos. Nona volunteers over 800 hours a year for the Senior Companions of South Dakota program, where she provides excellent service to all her clients by helping prepare meals, assisting with laundry and transportation, and sharing her love and enthusiasm for life. Nona is 80 years young with an energetic personality, a real “character” who makes a lasting impression on all whom she meets.

This lovely lady started her volunteer career while living in Colorado, and in 1984 decided to join the Peace Corp. During her two year service in rural South Africa, she taught basketry and needle work to young children. Here in Yankton, Nona has donated her time and care to a local senior home playing old movies to residents and to the Just for Kids (JFK) program, tutoring and sharing her extensive collection of African stuffed toys for “’show and tell.”

Nona enjoys spending time with all generations of people and believes volunteer work not only teaches you insight about future challenges, but provides you with more energy in life! Thank you Nona for all the energy and love you contribute to this community.