NATIONAL SALVATION ARMY WEEK 2023: A SALUTE TO OUR VOLUNTEERS

May 18, 2023

This National Salvation Army Week, we at The Salvation Army Western Division (serving Nebraska, South Dakota, and Iowa) want to take a moment to recognize some of our outstanding volunteers from around our three-state service area. Volunteers are at the heart of everything we do as an organization.  We are so grateful to work alongside them as we carry out our mission to serve everyone in need.  We recently asked officials at several of our community centers around our region to drop us a line and tell us about a local volunteer who’s going the extra mile to make a difference.  Read on below to see what they’re saying

Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA-Katie Harn

Katie Harn from Waterloo is an amazing volunteer coordinator!

Her approach to retaining and recruiting volunteers is so positive and our volunteers love her!  She is very hands on – helping our volunteers to feel welcome and comfortable when they come to our programs.  We have a large force of volunteers in Waterloo helping with our food programs and other areas of service. Katie knows all of them on a first-name basis and is very personable. She checks in often with our regular volunteers to make sure they are feeling fulfilled in their role. Katie often reminds our volunteers about our mission and why we are serving – with impact stories and celebrating the good things happening through the ministry of The Salvation Army in the Cedar Valley. She is awesome and we are so blessed to have her in Waterloo.

She deserves all the awards!

-Major Shannon Thies

Lincoln, NE-Theresa Tuttle

I would like to nominate Theresa Tuttle, our volunteer coordinator. This can be a very time-consuming task along with all the other hats she wears.  She recruits the volunteers and gives tours when they come in as a group.  Volunteers are so important at the Lincoln Salvation Army and we are so grateful to have them.  Theresa works with the high schools and colleges as the students need their volunteer hours to graduate or work on special projects.

We appreciate all she does to manage this aspect of ministry.

-Major Susan Anderson

Norfolk, NE-Michelle Miller

Michell Miller is our volunteer coordinator. She is scheduling, organizing, recruiting and leading our volunteers with grace. She readily shares her enthusiasm about volunteering for The Salvation Army. However, she also sees the benefit for the volunteer, such as having a place of belonging, learning new skills, finding a place to serve, and getting the opportunity to learn more about The Salvation Army in Norfolk. Michelle has taken the time to recognize the volunteers during this recent volunteer recognition week and provide them with a gift. Thank you, Michelle, for your leadership!

-Major Kelli Trejo

Aberdeen, SD-Tony Jones

Tony Jones is very well known in our community as our Director of Volunteers. When he does not have enough volunteers to do the many tasks at our building and Thrift Store, he steps up and does them himself. He also manages donations that are received by local businesses and works diligently to ensure that if we cannot use them, they are shared with the community—either through our own giveaway or through other local agencies.

-Major Ramona D. Arthur

Huron, SD-Janell Miller

Janell Miller is very helpful with the volunteers. As the office administrator, she assists in coordinating them with the right people in order to plug them into various roles and tasks as needed.  She also helps with the application process when they are new on the scene.  She calls people to fill in when the staff are out for medical and other reasons; in their absence, she makes certain that all official duties are still covered.

- Lieutenant Shannon Bluer

Rapid City, SD-Angie Mason

Our Volunteer Coordinator is also our EDS Director and Events Coordinator – and she also supports the Social Services Department with case management and data entry.

Angie Mason is an incredible person who does all her jobs with excellence. She is kind and compassionate. She also has a great capacity to encourage all of us (employees, volunteers, and clients). She is always willing to jump in and do whatever needs to be done. The volunteers love working with Angie. She is always informative and does everything that she can to make sure that each volunteer has an amazing experience and also feels affirmed in what they are doing. She is extremely professional in working with other staff on how to best communicate with our volunteers. She is also there to help when conflict resolution is needed.  She does everything very seriously and always gives it her best.  

I don’t know that I have enough words—or the right words—to describe how important she is to our team.

- Maj. Jerry O’Neil


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