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Volunteer Profile Meet Jackie Cavanaugh |
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Dear
fellow volunteers and supporters of St. Vincent’s, As
I write this, we are deep into the winter months and that means there
are a lot of living challenges present in our Valley for needy families
and individuals. During 2009, we provided a level of services that were
generally larger in scope than in previous years and given to people
that, in many cases, were newly impacted by our soft economy. I, like
you, hope and pray, that our economy will see some recovery during 2010,
but suspect that whatever recovery comes our way it will be slow at
best. During 2009, our Volunteers donated over 85,000 hours throughout
our nine serving Conferences and we continued to serve with all
volunteers of about 230. We helped over 18,000 families and individuals
with rent. utility and prescription cost relief in our Social Services
and Home Visit Conferences. We consumed about $450,000 in providing
those social services, a figure that is almost twice the level for the
same type of services during 2008. In addition, we provided; 2,800 sets
of school supplies to needy children; free clothing and household items
to over 7,900 people; 52,000 hot meals to men, women and children;
12,000 sacks of groceries (including fresh fruit), 3,400 bed nights to
people without shelter; free Dental help to almost 200 individuals,
and gave free showers and laundry facilities to about 200 individuals.
We could not have served at those levels without the continuing support
from Church Parishioners, Charitable Foundations, Naumes Inc., Greater
Medford Rotary, and donations in kind from such sources as the Rogue
Valley Manor, Red Lobster, Pizza Hut, Ray’s Markets, Costco, Hubbards
Hardware, Medford Fabrication, Curtis-Huntley Plumbing, Mr. Rooter and
Bi-Mart, to name a few. In addition, there are many families and
individuals that provide very generous support on a regular basis. Thank
you very much to all of you and God Bless you. Len Hebert
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dedicated to making all this happen. Jackie says, “Working at St Vincent is my way of making a direct response to the Lord’s request to reach out to our fellow human beings.” When I ask Jackie about her hobbies, she said, “My family is my hobby, I guess. I have four children and ten grandchildren. Three of our children and their families live right here in Medford so I spend lots of time with them.” Jackie grew up in Southern California, went to a Catholic girl’s high school, attended college for a time in the Midwest and then worked for the airlines. “I loved traveling, particularly all over Europe, and pursued my interest in art for a time.” She met her husband, Ralph, briefly when she was going to high school with his sister and didn’t meet him again for ten years. “At that next meeting all the bells and whistles went off and we’ve been married for 42 years.” Jackie continues to love working at SVDP. She likes collecting antique dishes and never fails to find lots of lovely things in the Store, particularly at the yearly Collectible Sale. “This is the greatest guilt free shopping there is, every penny helps someone somewhere.” •
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