April 2014 Volunteer of the Month - Claudine Brown

Congratulations to April’s volunteer of the month, Claudine Brown!

Claudine is not unfamiliar with partaking in work that is dedicated towards helping those in need. She is a team member of the Legal Department at the New York City Housing Development Corporation where she aids in their mission of providing New York City residents with affordable housing all over the five boroughs.  

Not leaving it at just that, Claudine also has volunteered with other organizations during her 13 years here in New York City. It was only recently did Claudine find out about Met Council and the volunteer opportunities offered within the organization. After reaching out to the volunteer department with the intentions of volunteering for a food program, Claudine learned about Met Council’s annual Family Violence Passover Distribution; an annual event where clients that are victims of domestic violence receive boxes of food in preparation for the Passover Holiday. 

When asked about what she thought about her time at the distribution, Claudine said “I loved it. I missed my Sunday bootcamp class but instead I got the workout of my life.”

Claudine was one of amongst many volunteers that day but she played a pivotal role in ensure that all of the clients received their food boxes while also mitigating the level of chaos within the distribution. 

“At first…I really wanted to start helping package [food] in the boxes, but my duties shifted throughout the event.” 

After packaging food for a bit, Claudine was assigned as the go-to person that communicated between the packagers and distributers of what boxes were present, which were finished and what still needed to get done. 

“It was really an eye-opening experience. I was part of the center of the wheel that kept that whole event moving.” 

Its experiences like this that makes volunteers so engaged in volunteer activities. Claudine feels like it’s also the amount of diversity coming together within a group that’s really eye opening. 

“That’s one thing I love about New York. People of all different backgrounds coming together for this common cause . We’ve never met before and here we are [working together] and making a difference. It’s awesome.”

It is awesome. 

March 2014 Volunteer of the Month - Ellen Nedell

 

Congratulations to Ellen Nedell our March 2014 volunteer of the month!

A native New Yorker, Ellen grew up around the hustle and bustle of New York City. After retiring from her position as a broker on Wall Street, Ellen decided she was going to spend some of her free time volunteering for various agencies in New York that fight for causes she believes in. Ellen’s lively activity as a volunteer throughout different organizations in Manhattan such as JASA, UJA and Goddard is what led her to finding out about the opportunities here at Met Council. 

While her time with Met Council has been short thus far, Ellen took it upon herself to frequently volunteer onsite after receiving notice of an opportunity she felt compelled to be a part of. On a consecutive basis, Ellen would perform outreach tasks for Met Council’s Family Violence Passover Distribution coming up on April 6th. Ellen has called over 75 participants in the program to go over opportunities available to them as well as details for the distribution. She has written down food orders and provided reassurance to clients that Met Council’s services would be there to aid them during the expensive time of Passover. 

Ellen has enjoyed her time as a volunteer, commenting that she volunteers “Just to help other people. People who can help other people….one is so fortunate who can do just that.” Her compelling statement echoes the same notion of many Met Council volunteers. It just so happens that Ellen went above and beyond; primarily taking charge of ensuring the outreach project was done in the most efficient way possible.

It’s that selfless attitude that has provided her with such a pleasant experience volunteering. Ellen stated she has felt nothing but gratitude from the clients she’s been in contact with. “I can hear them smile over the phone,” she states. Wonderful words to hear that reinforce the work Ellen is doing is not only appreciated by clients but also by everyone here at Met Council. 

The most rewarding part for Ellen has been realizing how her contributions have reached out to those who need it. Ellen says “You can’t measure it in quantitative terms it’s more about qualitative,” she continues with “Some small joy has now crept into someone’s life.”