Vision 2020’s Community Pride and Spirit committee is partnering with Bremer Bank of Austin to honor volunteers in 2015. This month, volunteer Barbara Acosta nominated Alice Tomashko as an outstanding volunteer.

Alice began volunteering with the American Red Cross (ARC) many years ago when she was first married. The ARC had been an important part of her husband’s life even before she met him because the ARC contacted him during his service in the Navy to call him home for his grandmother’s funeral. When they got married, her mother-in-law introduced her to the ARC by asking her to help with the typewriter, since they used it to register blood donors at blood mobiles.

Alice says a supportive family is key to volunteering.  “It was easy to volunteer when he (her husband) was very supportive and appreciated what I did,” Alice said.

In her over 60-year career at the ARC, Alice worked on the blood mobile, front desk and served on the board. She also represented the local chapter at the state level.

“The more I was there, the more I realized the ARC helped people,” Alice said.

She especially enjoyed working with those serving in the military during her first years of volunteering. This committee would do things like give news to a soldier that he was a father. “Those are wonderful experiences to be able to do that. People are really grateful. The biggest thing is to know they are thankful.“ Alice said

Alice credits the staff of the ARC Chapter with showing volunteers how valuable they were to the ARC. A veteran volunteer, Alice has advice for non profits that seek volunteers. “Organizations who request volunteers need to make sure they have work for them to do,” Alice said. The volunteer is an important person to organizations and having something to do for them gets them excited about their volunteering experience.

You can honor Alice’s service to our community by keeping the spirit of volunteerism alive. Consider participating in Vision 2020’s Community Pride and Spirit community service challenge for the year 2015. We are asking everyone in Austin to consider making a commitment of 24 hours of volunteer service to the community in 2015. You can volunteer anywhere you like, doing any activity that you like. You can work on it 30 minutes a week or plan a blitz weekend. There is no paperwork or registration process—simply a personal commitment to serve the community this year. It’s a way to celebrate the tradition of service in Austin and keep it alive for future generations.

To find — or post —volunteer opportunities, make the connection on the Vision 2020 Community Pride and Spirit website www.vision2020austin.com/spirit or find us on Facebook at “Spread the Spirit in Austin, MN.”

Join us for Summer Kick Off in downtown Austin on Friday, May 29. Along with free music and activities for kids starting at 5:30 p.m., you can join us for the presentation of the Keep the Spirit Alive awards to outstanding community volunteers. The ceremony will take place at about 6:30 p.m. We hope to see you there!