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was on hand to paint the Norwalk said volunteer Christa Culhane Kiwanis Emergency Shelter, of Norwalk. “It’s a good group.Volunteers from all over MidATHENA AWARD WINNER - Dolores D. Moekler. vice president of the Merchants Bank and Trust Company, makes her acceptance speech after being awarded the 19X8 Athena Award. The award honors women who use wisdon, courage and strength in their business and personal lives. Photo by / /slt;/ Totlt;By PHYLLIS CODLING Saturday, June 18, was a perfectday to paint, and paint is what members of a recently formed volunteer group. Adult Volunteers in Action (AViA), did.The group, formed in April bya five-member steering committeeFairfield County, including Norwalk. Westport, Weston, Wilton, Fairfield and Southport, participated in what turned out to be a successful pilot project.“I thought it went great,”I can’t do this every week, or every other we^k, I only have so many hours to give. It’s a great idea.”The idea was to give full-time, professional employees a chance to donate some of their free time to primarily one-shot projects that would help their communities.For Pat Tbrrey, director of the Voluntary Action Center of Mid Fairfield, the group came about through the many requests her office received from people who didn’t have a lot of time to commit because of their jobs.Ruth Schwartzkopf of Norwalk was one of those people. She said she spoke to Mrs. Torrey in November wanting to volunteer.“I did not want to volunteer at a hospital,” she said. “I wanted to meet people and Pat said she wanted to start a singles group where (volunteers) could do things together.”The group, which was patterned after similar organizations that have been successful in Westchester County, N.Y., and the Stamford area, didn’t really get off the ground until April, when Mrs. Tbrrey told Ms. Schwartzkopf that she had been getting a lot of requests. They decided to get a group started, try one project and see how it would goThe response was overwhelming, said Ms. Schwartzkopf. “The enthusiasm, the way the steering committee clicked was more than I could have hoped for. It was a real team effort and I think we all made some new friends,” she said.The emergency shelter was not the original project planned to start the group off. The group was to paint several rooms in a house being renovated by Neighborhood Housing Services,which later is to be sold as two apartments for lower-income families, however the work fell behind schedule.Mrs. Tbrrey had been contacted earlier by Lee “Skip” Ferry, director of the shelter, to see if AViA could paint the outside of the building, which has room for approximately 50 residents. The shelter also houses the Good Shepherd Soup Kitchen, which is staffed mostly by volunteers.“Several people have mentioned that it really looks good,” said Mr. Ferry “The outside of the building was a poor reflection of what was inside.”The group, which intends topick up speed in the fall, has some projects in the wings for later in the summer Lois A1 cosser at VAC said that the steering committee plans to meet in July, however an exact date has not yet been set.Anyone wanting more information on AViA may call VAC. Positions are still open on the steering committee and more volunteers are needed to help with upcoming projects“It’s a very strong group.” added Mrs. Tbrrey. “They are very self motivated and a very enthusiastic group of volunteers I think it will be a great success and will grow like crazy.”APPLYING THE PAINT to the Norwalk Kiwanis EmergencyShelter is Hank Greefield of Norwalk, a volunteer with Adult Volunteers in Action. The painting project was the first byAVIA, which was formed this spring. Photo by Phyllis Codling
Newspaper Details
Norwalk News Trader
Norwalk, Connecticut, US
Thu, Jun 30, 1988
Page 3
Full Page
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KY, USA 11 Oct 2020
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