Just last week we had volunteers from Windermere at Good Cheer. This sets a tremendous example for the people in the community. It also affirms the efforts that are made daily by our volunteers at the Good Cheer Food Bank and its Thrift Stores.
Volunteering is a form of giving. It is sharing what we value with others without counting on the reciprocal expectation of recognition or gratitude.
“The value of man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.”
–Albert Einstein
True giving is done without expecting something in return. Most of the time we are giving someone something they need, and they usually don’t have the means to give anything back. Usually, the act of giving is to help and the only thing that could diminish that act, I believe, is to do it expecting something out of it.
Good Cheer is blessed to have many volunteers that know the true value of giving. This past Father’s Day we had two Dads who couldn’t be with their children; so why not help out at the thrift store.
This is a photo of Mike and Sydney with Cary Peterson (Good Cheer Garden Coordinator) at the Summer Volunteer Party.
Mike Hoffman was recently assigned the new role of managing the Langley Thrift Store Hardware department. Mike and his wife Sydney (a food bank volunteer) got together with Don and Anne Zontine and decided to spend some time organizing the hardware department. By day’s end they had spent 5 hours at the thrift store on Father’s Day giving back and doing what only comes naturally to them.
This is a photo of Don and Anne working at the Good Cheer garden this past week. Anne is a regular garden volunteer and Don is a truck driver volunteer for Good Cheer.
It was far from an easy task to organize the hardware area at the Langley Store; I know that Mike has been working on it for a while.
There has also been great progress at the Clinton Thrift Store where you will find a large selection of tools to help you around the home.
The Good Cheer Food Bank is a life line for families who get cut off from the work force. Many who had traditionally supported organizations such as ours (prior to the collapse of the economy a few years ago) now find themselves as recipients of this service.
Corrine Bayley Food Bank Volunteer works the check in counter every Tuesday afternoon and is our professional volunteer photographer.
When many public assistance programs were eliminated during the 1980s local communities found themselves swamped to provide basic nourishment for the elderly, families subsisting on one worker income at minimum wage, the unemployed and their children.
Colby Snow volunteers at special events and is the driver of our soap box derby car and provided technical support at our talent show.
Volunteer efforts through churches, local clubs and private organizations came together in many communities to provide this vital assistance.
Lou Donaty is Damien Cotez’s back-up man in the Food Bank.
But for the self-sacrifice of individuals who themselves are not wealthy and the generous donations of many others, many children in this country would suffer developmental issues related to nutrition and diet; and elder citizens on a fixed income would have to choose between their food and their medications.
Jim Engstrom is a longtime volunteer worker at Good Cheer Two, in the Food Bank and also the Distribution Center.
The volunteers that we have highlighted are just a few of the people that are so essential to the Good Cheer Food Bank and Thrift Stores.
If you have any interest in giving through volunteer work here is a link to helping in the fashion that suits you best.
Good Cheer!
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