Lee plays a vital role in the success of Child & Family’s Volunteer and Intern Program saving the agency significant time, effort and money. When Lee retired from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in 2008 she knew she wanted to give back but wasn’t exactly sure what form it would take. Child & Family came to mind because of its reputation for helping the community in meaningful ways. Today Lee volunteers several full days each week where her previous work experience and skills are put to good use. For instance, her knowledge of the fingerprinting process, which is required for anyone working with children, has been valuable in saving the agency time and money.
In addition, Lee manages the volunteer database maintaining contact information, weekly hours, active vs. non-active and the total number of annual volunteer hours. She is also instrumental in managing the databases and matching donors and families for Thanksgiving baskets and the Adopt a Family program at Christmas. According to Landa Patterson, Volunteer and Program Event Coordinator, Lee has a knack for arriving at the perfect time to help get big projects off the ground and running. Landa’s favorite story about Lee’s flexibility, professionalism and dedication is the time they went to Salve Regina University to fingerprint eight members of the football team and found there were 30 who wanted to volunteer!
Nonplussed Lee improvised on supplies and delegated duties to the team to keep the process moving. For well over two hours Lee diligently processed every player – after all it’s not every day that 30 members of a football team want to volunteer their time helping out the children and families in their community. Lee says her work at Child & Family has made her more aware of the great needs in our community particularly the large number of single parents. From all of us at Child & Family we couldn’t be more grateful or honored to have such a dedicated, talented, fun and professional member of our family.