Winter 2013 Newsletter - Page 3
Please click on page numbers below to read newsletter.
Page 1 2 3 4 5
RSVP Westhampton Volunteer - Bob Mignerey
As one of our many, devoted volunteers supporting the Telephone Reassurance Program in the Westhampton office, Bob comes once a week to make the calls that provide our homebound seniors with much-needed community contact. But Bob doesn’t stop there... He is a very active 89 year old who also volunteers at Bideawee, Peconic Medical Center and the Westhampton Medical Center. Keeping busy with volunteer work four days a week, Bob is also a devoted church member.
Born in Brooklyn, Bob now lives in Westhampton. He shared that he was born premature (weighing only 3 pounds) and was not expected to live. Bob contributes his volunteer work to his thankfulness for having survived infancy and being grateful for each day. He has had two loving wives whom he took care of during their illnesses. He also has a large family of four children, many grandchildren, two great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. He is retired from Brookhaven Laboratory where he worked for 30 years.
Bob is truly the definition of the word “volunteer!” Thank you Bob for all you do for others. You are a role model to seniors everywhere and richly deserve to be recognized in our spotlight!
RSVP VA Hospital Volunteer – Fred Loucka
Although Fred Loucka looks like he might be a distant relative of Santa Claus, he isn’t. However, his heart is as big as St. Nick’s and he’s busier than a team of elves at the North Pole with his variety of volunteer activities. RSVP wanted to spotlight Fred as a community service person because in addition to his myriad of other activities, he managed to give an additional 235 hours in the month of November to the Red Cross, helping to assist residents who were terribly impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Fred rotated between Red Cross shelters in the communities of Brentwood, Sachem, Sayville and Bohemia, each housing about 250 displaced people, working 8-16 hour days doing all the tasks associated with sheltering these folks and making a foreign situation as comfortable for them as possible. Although he found the work hours grueling, he says it was rewarding to assist people in dire straits to be at ease in a secure and safe atmosphere.
His main volunteer duties take place in the VA Hospital in Northport, where he has given his time for over 35 years. Fred, a Vietnam era vet himself, devotes a majority of his service to visiting vets in the geriatric and psychiatric wards of the hospital. He was instrumental in opening a greenhouse on the premises and can be seen escorting patients having difficulties ambulating to various tests and medical departments. He relates that one of his most rewarding friendships, which began 27 years ago, was visiting and feeding a quadriplegic veteran at the hospital.
“When you give, you get back” is Fred’s motto. He regularly serves at a soup kitchen for Maryhaven on Friday nights at his local church, is a member of the AMVET Advisory Board and for the past 40 years, has been a proud member of the American Legion. Fred holds two “century” pins from L.I. Blood Services-signifying that he has made over 200 blood donations at community blood drives. He is a shining example of the phrase “Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.” Thanks Fred for your spirit, compassion and endless effort!