Each year SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) bestows the Lifetime Achievement Award on a volunteer who has provided 20 years of service to the organization. Two decades of continuous volunteer service to a local charitable organization is a very significant commitment to service. On April 14th at the SBCO Annual Meeting, two special people received this recognition: Marilyn Christensen and Jeanette Wollinka.
Marilyn Christiansen and Jeanette Wollinka
Marilyn Christiansen and her husband, Marshall first learned about SBCO at a social event in their unit. A neighbor told her and her husband about Kids’ Closet, thinking they might find it an interesting volunteer opportunity. After attending an SBCO meeting, the couple signed up to be Kids’ Closet volunteers and the rest, as they say, is history. Marilyn and Marshall began working at Kids’ Closet before it was housed in the “big red building” in Mammoth. In the early days, volunteering involved carrying supplies to the distribution site, along with setting up and tearing down for each fall and spring session.
The couple both worked as dressers helping the students select clothing and shoes. Over time, Marilyn became a day manager, a role
that involves receiving the list of students coming to the Closet for a session, preparing a shopping sheet and bag for each child, conducting the volunteer meeting, checking to ensure each child leaves with a complete wardrobe, and checking the volunteers in and
out. Marilyn says, “Kids’ Closet is a wonderful place to be. The kids are amazing and the volunteers make each child feel special and happy to be there to shop for new clothes. It’s great to place volunteer and make a difference in children’s lives.”
Jeanette Wollinka first began volunteering for SBCO as a receptionist in the office in 2004. For a few years, she served as the scheduler for the Monday volunteers at Kids’ Closet and then became a clothing buyer for several years. This role involved ordering clothing, underwear, and socks for the Closet, working with vendors to ensure on-time delivery, making emergency buys when shipments were delayed, monitoring inventory and traveling to Las Vegas for buying trips (which is not much fun in August).
According to Jeanette, “The most gratifying volunteer work I have done was with Kid’s Closet. But any volunteering I have done with SBCO made me feel like I was helping to make its projects succeed. Volunteering has been a wonderful way to make friends and feel like a part
of our community. It is wonderful to feel that you belong. I have encouraged anyone I could, especially new people in our community, to volunteer. We feel blessed that we chose SaddleBrooke for the retirement life, even though I was not retired all that time We are so fortunate to have made this our home for the past 32 years.”
