Volunteers

Are you rummaging through your house for all of those stored away holiday decorations and finding things you never use and don’t need anymore?  Are you out shopping and feeling generous because the holiday spirit is starting to set in and you want to find a way to help people in need?  We have several opportunities for you!

Cleaning Supplies for Hillside:  Our  South Side community is organizing welcome baskets to give to the families just moving in to their neighborhood.  These baskets will include many things people moving into their first homes will need including cleaning supplies to help keep their new place shiny clean!  They are looking for all types of general household cleaning products to give to their new neighbors.

Toddler and Children clothes and toys: The clothes closets that our communities have started seem to always be low on clothes and toys for the children since that is the area with the biggest demand.  While we will always accept items for adults, we are very interested in stocking the clothes closets with items the children will be able to use. Please consider donating new and gently used items for kids!

Winter Coat Drive: Coats, hats and gloves are much needed items that many of our friends don’t have access to.  We are holding a drive for these items during the month of the November.  Please encourage your community (church, school, work place, neighborhood, etc.) to collect these winter necessities!  We will be handing them out in the communities on December 6th.

Volunteers of the Month:

July 2009: Mildred Hunter

Mildred Hunter is the Vice President of the Hillside Court Tenant Association. She brightens our days with her big, beautiful smile every time we go to visit. She loves to garden, and has planted a little patch of vegetables in front of her home. She also enjoys fishing, going to church and visiting the elderly people in her neighborhood. She has four children and from them, a total of fourteen grandchildren and even a great grandchild. She is working to get the Hillside Court clothes closet working, and in the meantime, is sharing her joyful spirit with the community. We are so grateful for Mildred’s care for her community and her willingness to let us come alongside what she is already doing there.

June 2009: Sarah Parkinson

Sarah and her little helper Nathan bless our Embrace family every other week. While Sarah updates our accounting system, 3 yr old? Nat is busy drawing out smiles for both staff and program participants. Sarah and her family have been supporters of Embrace for years with Sarah serving two years as the Treasurer of our Board. This past month Sarah assisted in the preparation of our tax return, a job no one especially a volunteer, would ever want to do. However, Sarah faithfully and quietly is working behind the scenes insuring that all our donor assets are properly accounted for. She never seeks praise or recognition but we decided after more than two years of faithful service she deserved a shout out from the Embrace team. Sarah and Nathan we love you guys. Thanks for all you do!

we love you guys. Thanks for all you do!

May 2009: Jamie Mitchell

Jamie Mitchell is married to Tom and is a stay at home mom of two boys, and they all attend Second Baptist Church. Since she has become a Christ follower, God has touched her heart with His passion for missions and His heart for redemption. She feels a personal call toward the poor and homeless through her involvement in missions, so she has been thinking about how she could expand the CARITAS ministry, which she leads, to move outside the four walls of their church by going to meet and serve their neighbors in the inner-city. She says, “That is when God connected me with Embrace Richmond. This was a complete answer to prayer as I found out God was using Embrace Richmond to provide missions education to help congregations break through the barriers that may be preventing them from being all that Christ has called them to be, AND providing a supportive environment for congregations to connect with those from the inner-city through the Healing Place, CARITAS, the furniture bank, blessing days, and relationships formed through Unity -Works.” I am getting ready to embark on a deeper walk with Christ into the inner- city through the Encourager program at Embrace Richmond where I am committing to walk in a twelve month encouraging relationship with a single adult or family that is coming out of a homeless crisis after a four- week training class. It is assured to be an adventure as I learn more about God, myself, and how to truly love others.

April 2009: Don Reich

Thank you, Don for your selfless service to Embrace Richmond.

We want to take a moment to realize the positive impact of Don Reich. As a graduate of Unity Works, Don has committed himself to working alongside our AmeriCorps transitional employment folks. His diligence as a career mentor is bolstering individuals to attain their GED or simply grow and further their gifts. With Don’s help they are realizing their visions of giving back to their community. Transitional employment members are supporting those who are experiencing similar challenges that they faced in homelessness or alcohol and substance addictions.

October 2008: Cindy Davis

Cindy Davis with Uptown Color has provided our printing needs for “The Chair Affair.” Cindy has a heart for helping and has been very supportive of Embrace and our efforts in helping fulfill our mission. Thanks Cindy and Uptown Color for helping us make this event a success!

September 2008: The Healing Place

The Healing Place is a 197 bed long-term residential recovery program. We have been blessed since last fall to have dozens of men from The Healing Place who have come to Embrace to assist us in our warehouse. They all volunteered to come both in the heat of the summer months and the freezing winter months to help us keep be a blessing to those in need. Many thanks to The Healing Place men! With your help, we have served 131 households so far this year!

August 2008: Richmond’s Youth

Throughout the past few months we have received numerous donations from Richmond’s youth of all ages. We are so very grateful for all of their contributions and want to share with the community the things we have recently received.

We received 3 dressers from an Eagle Scout group, several sheet and pillow sets from Gayton Baptist, several buckets full of cleaning supplies and Welcome Home cards from Salisbury Presbyterian Vacation Bible School, handmade Jesus bears made by Casey Torrence’s group at Good Shepherd UMC, and 58 Youth Bibles from Chester Presbyterian Church’s Youth Group. We have also had many groups come and put in some volunteer hours. The middle school group at Cool Spring Baptist painted the dressers that the Eagle Scout group made, Woodlake UMC’s Helping Hands group and Chester Presbyterian Church’s youth group put together letters and mailings and also organized the warehouse. We are very appreciative to all of these groups for their hard work and time they put into these projects.

July 2008: Laura Strickler

You may have noticed that our newsletter has a new look. In the coming months we will be utilizing a number of new marketing and communication tools thanks to the creative efforts of Laura Strickler. Laura comes to us from St. James Episcopal Church. She has experience in marketing and a gift for design. We are blessed to have Laura on our team and look forward to sharing more of her creative efforts in the near future. Please join us in saying a prayer of thanks giving for the gift of Laura!

May 2008: Lee Owens

Lee Owens came to us from Woodlake UMC. After flying planes for 19 years, Lee took an early retirement and has been blessing organizations like Woodlake UMC and Embrace by sharing his amazing gift of organization. He has a servants heart and has done everything from moving furniture in the warehouse, fixing flat tires, transporting volunteers and helping edit grant proposals. Lee is joining our team as the Resource Coordinator and will be working with corporations and businesses to facilitate large bulk donations. We anticipate that Lee’s gift for coordination will also serve us well as we begin planning a number of large corporate drives over the next year. Thank You Lee for being such a blessing!

April 2008: John Kaldy

We first met John just over a month ago when his boy scout troop joined us for our March Mission day. John immediately recognized that we needed help. He shared that he likes to build things and over the past month John and his troop have built several tables for Embrace Richmond families. In addition, John has expanded our storage capacity by building additional shelving, reinforcing our stairway and adding side rails allowing us now to utilize the second floor of our warehouse. John and his team plan to continue building tables and invite anyone who likes to build things to join him. He will be happy to share the plans he and his team developed and teach others how to construct these wonderful tables. Thank you John for being such a blessing!

March 2008: Tony Brickhouse

Tony Brickhouse is a faithful volunteer who always brightens up the place. He is always willing to lend a hand when we need him to either by simply helping with furniture drives or babysitting the truck when it breaks down. He has been delivering furniture for Embrace for three years and has truly been a tremendous asset to Embrace. Back before we had a box truck, Brickhouse would deliver in his own personal truck. We appreciate him very much!!! Thanks Brickhouse for always being there!

February 2008: Martha Winfrey

This month Embrace Richmond would like to spotlight Martha Winfrey. She has agreed to help coordinate our personal shopper and career mentor teams. Martha has been serving faithfully as a personal shopper and her beautiful smile and pleasant personality have been a blessing to our entire team. Martha has the gift of hospitality and makes sure that all visitors to Embrace, both program participants and volunteers, have a positive experience. We are thrilled that Martha has agreed to take a leadership role and we believe with her help we will be able to connect more volunteers to the many opportunities available through Embrace Richmond. Thank You Martha for all you do!