Hello everyone.   My name is Alex Sanders and I am the Grow Appalachia Site Supervisor at Project Worth Outreach.  We are located in Menifee County, Kentucky.  Today, in Menifee County, Kentucky it is not raining, snowing, windy or cloudy.  It is a gorgeous, beautiful, warm sunny day.  This is the first time that I can say that this year.  I hope to see many, many more days like this since it has been such a dreary winter.Today, I would like to speak a very important topic…VOLUNTEERS.  We are a very small nonprofit organization.  Without the assistance of many VOLUNTEERS we could not adequately do our jobs and offer as many programs as we do.  Here, at Project Worth Outreach, we depend on VOLUNTEERS daily.  Our VOLUNTEERS perform a variety of duties for us and this allow us to concentrate on our other duties.  Our VOLUNTEERS run errands, does grounds keeping chores, works in our greenhouses, does paperwork and performs cleaning chores just to name a few of the duties performed by VOLUNTEERS.

I want to highlight five of our most dedicated VOLUNTEERS.  They are James and Drema Clifford, Nancy Ritchie, EJ Miller and Marsha Morris Sanders. 

Drema Clifford

Drema Clifford

James Clifford

James Clifford

James and Drema Clifford have been VOLUNTEERS at Project Worth Outreach for many years.  Every time our Director, Gail Mills, has called on them they have answered the call.  They not only are VOLUNTEERS for the Grow Appalachia Garden Program but are VOLUNTEERS for  Project Worth Outreach.  James runs many errands and Drema does a lot of paperwork for Project Worth Outreach..  These are only a couple of examples among the numerous other acts of  VOLUNTEERISM performed by this couple.  To James and Drema, I salute and thank you for all your hard work!

E.J. Miller

E.J. Miller

The next VOLUNTEER I want to highlight is EJ Miller.  EJ does a little bit of everything around here.  He is Mr. Fix-it at Project Worth Outreach.  The man can pretty much fix anything.  EJ also VOLUNTEERS for our Grow Appalachia Garden Program.  He transports our tiller and sometimes tills for gardeners.  He runs errands for us quite often.  EJ is a valuable asset to Project Worth Outreach and the Grow Appalachia Garden Program.  To EJ Miller, I salute and thank you for all your hard work!

Nancy Ritchie

Nancy Ritchie

The next VOLUNTEER I want to highlight is Nancy Ritchie.  She is a tireless worker.  Nancy has performed many duties at Project Worth Outreach.  One of the main duties she VOLUNTEERS for, and my personal favorite, is cooking and canning.  I have seen her literally stand at a hot stove for hours canning the produce we have harvested from our Grow Appalachia gardens.  It has been my pleasure to have tasted a lot of things she has cooked for our special dinners at Project Worth Outreach.  Nancy VOLUNTEERS for anything that needs to be done from cooking to cleaning.  I witnessed her teaching some young girls the proper way to mop a floor.  Believe it or not, she spent the entire day on this endeavor.  That’s the commitment that Nancy Ritchie puts into her VOLUNTEERING.  To Nancy Ritchie, I salute and thank you for all your hard work!

Alex & Marsha Sanders

Alex & Marsha Sanders

Our final VOLUNTEER that I want to highlight is Marsha Morris Sanders.  I am especially pleased to have her as a VOLUNTEER because she is my wife.  No, I did not coerce her to VOLUNTEER for the Grow Appalachia Garden Program because I didn’t need to because she believes in the potential of this program.  Over the three years Project Worth Outreach has participated in this program she has seen the tremendous impact it has had on the many lives in the region.  Marsha has assisted me in giving out seeds to participants and attended many Grow Appalachia Garden Program participant’s meetings and even taught a couple of lessons.  Marsha has been a great sounding board for me and has been a wealth of information and ideas.  Marsha has a knack for researching the internet and writes nice blog posts.  To Marsha Morris Sanders. I salute and thank you for all your hard work!

 

These five VOLUNTEERS have worked tirelessly from day one of our participation in Grow Appalachia Gardening which began three years ago.  They have done everything and more that has been asked of them.  We could not thank them enough for all they have done and continue to do.  Their contribution to Project Worth Outreach/ Grow Appalachia Garden Program is priceless.

These five VOLUNTEERS are just a small example of the many VOLUNTEERS that serve at Project Worth Outreach an in the Grow Appalachia Garden Program.  Without all these VOLUNTEERS our region would miss out on numerous benefits.

You probably noticed that I have capitalized the word VOLUNTEER in this post.  This is because I wanted to emphasize the importance of  VOLUNTEERS.  I urge all organizations, regardless of how many or few VOLUNTEERS you have to always appreciate what they do.  It’s amazing how far a kind word will go.  So please take time to say please and thank you whenever possible. 

I WOULD LIKE TO END THIS POST BY SAYING THANK YOU TO ALL VOLUNTEERS ASSOCIATED WITH GROW APPALACHING GARDENING.  KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!!