The room was filled with a lot of Senior power. The St. Mary’s County Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) held its annual awards banquet Thursday at the Dr. James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center in Leonardtown to a packed house.
During the event citations and certificates were handed out acknowledging the volunteers’ number of hours donated in 2013. There were a lot of hours amassed. The 284 volunteers in just about every imaginable volunteer capacity netted 36,546 total hours. Put in dollars and cents terms, that added up to $842,385 worth of community service. County Commissioner President Francis “Jack” Russell was presented with a symbolic check in that amount.
Russell said, “We all do volunteer work because it makes us feel good.” He added, “We are eternally grateful.”
A Lifetime Achievement Award was also given to Martha “Vickie” Dell, who is a volunteer coordinator of RSVP volunteers. She has been volunteering for more than 20 years for Helping Hands Food Pantry and St. Mary’s County Historical Society.
Attendees to the ceremony were welcomed by Director of the St. Mary’s County Office of Aging and Community Services Lori Jennings-Harris. Her agency oversees the RSVP program and Norine Rowe is the RSVP project manager.
Rowe detailed for the attendees the many agencies and programs for which RSVP provides volunteers. They include:
· Meals on Wheels that delivers meals to homebound senior citizens
· ACTS (A Community that Shares) that receives, repairs and donates (free of charge) medical equipment and assistive devices.
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