It is fitting that Community Partners in Caring holds its annual volunteer appreciation luncheon in February—Valentine’s Day month—because this event celebrates people who have a heart.
More than 80 big-hearted people attended the luncheon at the Santa Maria Country Club on Feb. 6.
In her snazzy red dress, Community Partners in Caring Executive Director Ashley Payne was a festive-looking hostess. Board members Eilene Okerblom, Bodil Cudd, and Bill Thompson were on hand as well to help thank the volunteers.
Margie Halsell, who founded the organization with a generous grant from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation in New Jersey, was there, along with husband Chuck and her parents, who were helpful in Community Partners in Caring’s early days.
At my table were volunteers Alice Worhacz, Dot Slater, and Phyllis Wicks.
Renee Cowans of At Home Senior Services represented Jim Small, president of the board, who was not able to attend. Pastor Carl Neilsen gave the invocation.
James Schneider of Lompoc and Jean McIlvanie of Santa Maria were honored as “Above and Beyond Volunteers.”
I asked Jean what she did that was “above and beyond,” and with a gracious chuckle, she mentioned performing such chores as changing light bulbs and hanging pictures. Her most unusual service was perhaps knocking down a rotting porch. “It was so rotten, it was easy to dismantle,” she reported modestly.
Among the attendees were Donna Cota and Diane Aleman-Stevens representing nighttime Altrusa, Phylene Wiggins of the Santa Barbara Foundation, and Hugh Rafferty of the Coastal Hills Community Foundation.
Chicken and sea bass were the entrée selections. They were served with rice, vegetables, and salad. Dessert was available at the Country Club’s always-popular ice cream sundae bar, where you scoop your own ice cream and choose from an array of toppings. No one minds standing in line for ice cream!
Well before lunch was served, volunteers were each presented with a humongous truffle (reportedly delicious) in its own box, tied with a red ribbon. Appreciation can be ever so sweet and sinful!
A longtime volunteer at the lunch was Darrell Freese, who also coordinates drivers for the Meals on Wheels program. That day, before he came to the luncheon, he had made two trips ferrying Community Partners in Caring clients to appointments.
Butch Abeloe, a long-distance driver, takes clients to medical appointments as far away as Santa Barbara. He has been volunteering for 15 years. He started off in Santa Maria and moved to Los Alamos, and now serves in the nonprofit’s Lompoc office.
Ashley Paine is jazzed about the present office location of Community Partners in Caring. For years, the organization was on Main Street and in another locale off Main.
“Now we have an office in the nonprofit building at the corner of Jones and McClelland [streets]. We were on the wait list for 10 years to get in this building,” Ashley said. “And we love it! There is a wonderful conference room available to us.”
Community Partners in Caring is a senior-oriented nonprofit. The aim of the organization is to assist seniors and the frail elderly so they can remain in their homes as long as possible.
Volunteers assist senior citizens in a variety of ways, including light housekeeping, yardwork, minor repairs, paperwork, and friendly visits. The nonprofit’s most valuable service, perhaps, is transporting clients to and from medical appointments free of cost.
If you have a hankering to help, give the nice folks at Community Partners in Caring a call at 925-8000.
If you want to hobnob with Helen, you may contact her at [email protected].
