Joyce & Priscella VOM OCT & NOV

Posted on January 20, 2011 10:30

U.W. November Volunteer Of The Month Announced

Published: Monday, November 22, 2010 11:15 AM CST

Thirty years ago, a forty-something wife and mother in northeastern South Dakota realized that, someday, she wanted to work as a volunteer in a hospital.

Now, Joyce Newman has been named the Yankton United Way’s November Volunteer of the Month for achieving her dream.

Carla Hummel, Director of Volunteer Services at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital, calls Joyce “the smile that welcomes everyone in the door!” At the announcement of Joyce’s honor, Carla said it was the first time she’d ever seen her speechless.

For more than eight years, Joyce has worked her smiling magic at the hospital information desk, currently taking the Wednesday morning slot and filling in for others as needed.

She enjoys helping people who come into the hospital, noting, “They’re so grateful when you can help them.” She and the others who work the information desk really are there to offer information, and, when Joyce can’t answer a question, well, “If I don’t know, I go find out.”

Her actual shift is from 9 a.m. to noon, but she always comes in at 7:30 – “That’s just the way I am.” That extra time on the job gives her “boss,” Carla, extra time to do other things.

Of course, Carla isn’t really her boss, since, along with the hundreds of others who give their time and talents to Avera Sacred Heart, Joyce is an unpaid volunteer. Well, that may not be quite true. She claims, “We work for a cookie!”

She works simply for fun in her other main volunteer activity, organizing the annual rummage sale for Habitat for Humanity. Some years ago, in the bulletin at Yankton’s First United Methodist Church, she saw an announcement about the sale, but was, at first, hesitant to get involved.

Still, she loves rummage sales. “It’s kind of like my profession. I go to rummage sales and then sell on eBay,” Joyce said. She’s been doing that for more than five years and finds that it is nearly a full-time job.

She did eventually offer to help with the event to raise money for Habitat and, before long, was the leader of that group effort. She told her fellow planners, “I’ll work until I’m 75.” Now, she says, “That’s just one more year.” Those who have worked with her don’t believe she’ll really quit, and it’s hard to imagine she will, as she admits, “We have such a good time!”

What time Joyce doesn’t spend volunteering or shopping rummage sales, she devotes to her family. When asked if she had a family, she answered, “Oh my, yes!” She and her husband have four daughters, four sons-in-law, twelve grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren.

They started their life together in the Tulare and Castlewood areas of South Dakota, but moved to Yankton in 1986 for her husband’s work in feed sales. Joyce, a longtime Avon and Tupperware salesperson, did several things in the area until settling in for a 7 1/2-year stint at the former Rudy’s Truck Stop north of town, a job she loved. She still delights in encountering people who remember her from her time there.

She retired from Rudy’s in July 2001; by March 2002, she was volunteering at Avera Sacred Heart — so grateful that she and her family had settled in a place big enough to have a hospital.

Joyce says, “If you’ve ever thought of volunteering, do it. It’s so rewarding. You just go home with such a good feeling.”

She says that with a smile. And why not? After all, she is living out her dream.

U.W. October Volunteer Of The Month Announced

Published: Monday, November 22, 2010 11:15 AM CST

You may well have been helped by the United Way October Volunteer of the Month, but have never heard her name.

That’s not only because Priscilla Mazourek — better known as “Cil” — volunteers in a multitude of ways, affecting a multitude of people, but also because she is not at all interested in having those people know who’s behind the acts of kindness.

In fact, being recognized as a Volunteer of the Month is a bit uncomfortable for Cil, who always says when she’s helped someone, “No name.” She adds, “I like doing things for people, but I don’t like being out front.”

Thus, much of Cil’s extensive volunteering is done behind the scenes. For example, every Wednesday evening, she picks up outdated bread from Hy-Vee and unsold rolls (frozen each night) from the Casey’s on Broadway, and packages them for the take-home table at the Banquet on Thursdays.

At the Center, she has been doing the seasonal table decorations for the last couple of years, buying some but also enjoying making as many as she can because “it’s more personal that way.”

As a member of a quilt club, she helps makes quilts for the preemies at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital. She notes that, though they are small, “They take as much work as a big one!” An avid crafter, she also crochets and does counted cross-stitch and canvas work, but her sewing skills are what are most appreciated in the hospital’s craft department. When talking about this hardworking group, she immediately emphasizes that all the proceeds made from their crafting go to the hospital and nursing homes.

In another quiet effort, she and a friend gather clothes and furniture, and, when they have a full load, drive Cil’s pickup to St. Paul’s Catholic Church at Marty Mission and leave them for distribution among those in need.

In perhaps the ultimate in behind-the-scenes volunteering, Cil takes a nighttime shift of perpetual adoration at Sacred Heart Church once a week. She likes it because, during the wee hours, it’s quiet. She admits that she doesn’t sleep well, then adds with a smile, “So I might as well be praying.”

Even in her 39? years at Valley State Bank and its successor, First National Bank South Dakota, she worked primarily behind the scenes, retiring as head bookkeeper.

But, before you decide that Cil can only be found where people aren’t, you need to hear the rest of her schedule. She covers the information desk at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital on Sunday and Wednesday afternoons, and the gift shop on the first, third, and fifth Thursday afternoons of each month.

She admits to enjoying the information desk more because there is “more traffic and people contact.” But she also takes great pleasure from helping someone find just the right item in the gift shop because “people get thrilled!”

At the Banquet, she’s the face at the kitchen take-home counter each Thursday night, packaging up meals for those who can’t come in themselves because they are sick or homebound.

And, when the line-dancing instructor isn’t there for the Center’s three-morning-a-week sessions, she literally steps up to be the volunteer leader.

“I enjoy doing things for people. Some people are appreciative and some aren’t, but that’s beside the point,” she says, adding, “If you can’t give when you’re able, then what’s the use of it?”

Again Cil emphasizes, “I enjoy it,” when talking about her busy volunteer schedule. “I don’t know what else to say.” She actually organizes the rest of her life — errands, doctor appointments, etc. — so that it fits into the one morning, one afternoon, and one day off she gets each week.

The rest of her hours are about helping others — whether they ever know it or not.