|
About Interfaith Senior Programs:
Interfaith Senior Programs is a faith based, community centered Waukesha County, Wisconsin 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization “responding to community needs through volunteerism.” The agency is an umbrella organization for two major Waukesha County programs: Faith in Action and Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Waukesha County (RSVP). The agency also serves as fiscal sponsor for three collaborative programs: Transportation Collaborative, State Network of Faith in Action Programs, and the Caregiver Support Consortium.
 Through the Faith in Action Program 1,200 seniors and adults with disabilities receive assistance to remain independent in their homes of choice. Staff coordinates screened volunteers to provide rides to healthcare appointments and grocery stores, and ongoing services such as a season of snow removal, respite caregiving, home projects, and help with bills and forms.
RSVP staff match 700+ volunteers age 55 and over to needs at nonprofit organizations, schools, and government agencies. More than fifty percent of the RSVP volunteers help children achieve academic success in public schools within Waukesha County.
 We learned about WomenOnCall.org from our Waukesha County Volunteer Center Director in fall of 2009. I registered our agency’s profile and posted two volunteer opportunities. April Rakowski’s response came to me via email within days and we began to connect through email and telephone. April designed a 2-hour training to help our staff better utilize Microsoft Outlook for task planning, contacts, and email distribution. This type of training would not have been possible otherwise, as we have eliminated our continuing education training budget for all trainings except when required by a funder. For our staff the training was priceless – a professional who understood our needs and was willing to give of her time to help increase our ability to do our work in the community.
 About April Rakowski:
Many pundints have a plethora of things to say about the American economy today and, unfortunately, few of them are positive. Many American businesses are hurting. However, there is a quiet and often overlooked force in the American labor market, rarely mentioned in today’s supercharged media. It is volunteerism. Ms. Rakowski feels so lucky to be a part of that force as a member of WomenOnCall.org.
April also feels exceptionally blessed to have had the opportunity to learn everything she could from an advanced college education and hard work amongst some of the very smartest and successful people in corporate world. If she had grown up in any other country besides the United States of America, her life may have been very different.
WomenOnCall.org has given Ms. Rakowski a venue in which to showcase her absolute and unwavering gratitude for what she has learned by sharing her technical skills with the Interfaith staff in Waukesha, Wisconsin. They were phenomenal students and made teaching them a new software application an absolute pleasure. She had an absolutely wonderful time with them and would recommend volunteering through WomenOnCall.org to everyone.
|
