Volunteer of the Month

I have been doing volunteer work for most of my life.  I started about the age of 12 at the public library in Niceville, Florida, where I used to shelve books and help people with basic questions.  Since then I've tutored at an elementary school, distributed food at a pantry, cooked dinners at an AIDS support facility, worked as a docent at house tours, been an usher and green room monitor at performances of various types, portrayed a historical character at museum events, and lots more, paricularly focusing on genealogy for the past several years.

As I'm sure is the case with most volunteers, I do it because I enjoy helping people.  It's always nice to be thanked, and most organizations do that routinely, so that their volunteers know that they are appreciated.  But sometimes you get a really big thank you that stands out.

Since moving to Oregon three years ago, I have become involved with the Genealogical Forum of Oregon (GFO), one of two state-level genealogy organizations here.  And for September the GFO board named me its GFO Star!

On the one hand, the cynic in me says that GFO probably cycles through its list of volunteers and everyone is named a Star at some point.  But I'm still proud to have been chosen.

The announcement was made in the September 17, 2020 GFO weekly e-news.  The short squib about me is about a third of the way down.

Thank you, GFO Board!  I'm happy to help and thrilled at the recognition!