volunteer heroes of 2021

Volunteer Heroes

BY ROSEMARY BLACK AND DONNA MORIARTY

SHARON MCKENZIE

Benjamin Franklin’s observation, “If you want something done, ask a busy person,” sure rings true when it comes to volunteering. The individuals who generously give their time and expertise to others aren’t just sitting around in their down time. They are caring for grandkids, socializing with friends, and attending to other commitments. Somehow, they also manage to squeeze in hours, days and weeks of volunteering -- working heroically and selflessly to improve the lives of others. Here is how (and why!) they do what they do, making them our volunteer heroes.

SHARON MCKENZIE of Greenburgh knows what it's like to be busy, and she loves the pace of a packed schedule. She worked for 30 years as a project manager for a company headquartered in Rye Brook before taking early retirement in 2015. Since then, she’s been busier than ever, spending about 40 hours a week volunteering around Westchester County. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. “The most rewarding part of volunteering for me is that it gives me purpose,” McKenzie enthuses. “It’s not just an act but a mission, a chance to advance world peace.”

Currently, she volunteers for several local organizations. At RSVP of Westchester, McKenzie works to keep the volunteers engaged. “The majority of volunteer stations were shut down due to Covid-19,” she recalls. “So we created a program called Movie Talk to keep the volunteers engaged.” Participants watch a documentary film and then participate in a 30-minute discussion.

McKenzie is also an active member of the World Peace Organization SGI-USA, a Buddhist community in the U.S. As a “member care advisor,” she conducts home visits and offers advice and guidance to members. “I focus on the members who are 65 and over,” she says. “My work is to empower them and to offer my support.”

In addition to RSVP of Westchester and SGI-USA, McKenzie recently completed Westchester County’s Livable Communities Caregivers Coaching program training. “It is designed to prepare volunteers for an enhanced ‘good neighbor’ role as caregiver coaches,” she says. “These coaches offer information and support to family caregivers.”

McKenzie, one of seven children, grew up in Tuckahoe and moved to White Plains after graduating from college. When she’s not volunteering, she enjoys listening to music, reading, cooking, and going for walks. She also loves to travel, though that has been more challenging since the pandemic started. Volunteering has also changed due to the pandemic. “Virtually 100% of my engagements and activities have been carried out on Zoom,” McKenzie says.

For anyone who is considering becoming a volunteer, McKenzie has this advice: “Find a way to serve that aligns with your true passions,” she says. “Service to your family and community is the only thing that lasts and has the power to enable you to discover your purpose in life. Volunteering will empower you.”

When McKenzie reflects on all the hours she has devoted to volunteering, she says she is gratified that she is making a difference in the lives of others. “We all are connected and what we do individually impacts the world,” she says. “It is important to take action and serve as a source of inspiration in your community.”

ALAN BEY, 72, who lives with his wife in Scarsdale, retired four years ago after a 46-year career in health care administration. And while his three grown daughters and five grandchildren keep him from being bored, he decided soon after he retired that he wanted to volunteer.

“I like to be busy and to feel that my life has meaning beyond my wife and children and grandchildren,” Bey says. “I had a really, really busy job, and when I retired at 68, I still had a lot of energy left.” ALAN BEY

The six to 10 hours each week Bey now spends volunteering pass quickly. He is on the advisory board of RSVP of Westchester and, under the auspices of the New York State Senior Medicare Patrol, he creates and posts one-hour Medicare classes for baby boomers and seniors.

Bey also volunteers at the New York Botanical Garden and Yonkers Partners in Education, where he mentors high school students. With SCORE Westchester, he provides one-on-one counseling to current and aspiring small business owners.

Volunteering his time and teaching others is rewarding and meaningful to him. Bey explains, “Volunteering keeps my mind active and my skills pouring back into the community. When I retired, I didn’t want to leave behind the lifestyle where I felt like I was bringing about change in people. So I use the areas in which I have expertise to help others.”

After DOT BERMAN retired from her job as a nurse at White Plains Hospital, she began looking for a little something to do as a volunteer. After all, she explains, it would be hard to spend 39 years as an operating room nurse while raising a family and then, suddenly, just do nothing!

With eight grandchildren, the 73-year-old Hartsdale resident still finds time to volunteer. She heard about RideConnect, a unit of Family Services of Westchester that offers free transportation to those 60 and older who need rides to doctors' appointments, the hairdresser, cultural events, or shopping expeditions, and began volunteering with them in 2018.

She currently provides three to four rides each week – all around Westchester. One day she might be driving someone to a dialysis appointment and, on another occasion, to the gym or supermarket. “GPS makes it so easy these days,” she says. “I actually don’t mind getting lost, and I love giving a hand.”

Ferricane knew of the venerable 100-year-old acute rehabilitation hospital and its reputation for treating patients recovering from debilitating injuries and illnesses, from spinal cord injury to heart attack and stroke. Still, his initial visit to Burke was eye-opening. “You walk into this hospital and all around you are people struggling to overcome significant health issues,” he says. “I saw a lot of opportunity to help just by offering a human connection.”

DOT BERMAN

The people she drives through RideConnect sit in the back seat of her car and wear a mask. But that doesn't hamper the conversation, Berman jokes. “This is a perfect volunteer opportunity for me because I love meeting new people,” she says. “My husband says I would talk to a stone if it would talk back! I like that I can set my schedule and meet new people.”

Why does she volunteer? “It makes me feel good to help other people,” Berman says. “And RideConnect is good for me because I can do as little or as much as I want in any given week.” When RICHARD FERRICANE, 74, retired in 2017 from a long career in information technology automotive engineering, the Pleasantville resident found himself with plenty of surplus time.

An amateur saxophone player, he enjoyed jamming with his long-time jazz musician cronies. For a while, he tried his hand at math tutoring. Still, all that free time felt like a void that needed filling. “I knew I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing,” he says. Perusing an e-newsletter from Volunteer New York!, he spied an opportunity with Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains. Following Burke’s two-week volunteer training program, Ferricane joined the hospital’s inaugural cohort of Patient Ambassadors, a program launched late in 2018. Two days a week, he is assigned a case load of about a dozen newly admitted patients. He meets with them twice: just after admission and shortly before discharge, with the objective of smoothing the way to a positive patient experience.

Burke patients often undergo many long hours of rigorous therapy. They may be dealing with a traumatic injury or diagnosis that has changed their lives forever. It’s a tough adjustment. Ferricane stops by a day or so after admission to get a feel for how a new patient is adapting.

He provides resources they might want to access and, oftentimes, he’ll arrange FaceTime calls with loved ones or visits from the clergy.

As the first to hear about a less-than-optimal patient experience, Ferricane acts as the conduit to a solution. For instance, if a patient complains of sleeping poorly, Ferricane’s report will be relayed to hospital staff for a solution: whether it’s new medication or simply readjusting the bed.

In all of his encounters, Ferricane brings his whole, best self to the task. When asked what he feels is the most meaningful thing about volunteering, he responds, “It’s knowing that in a small way, I’m making someone else’s life a little more bearable while they’re going through a hard time.”

Once the children were grown and out of the house, Scheffel ramped up her participation, now acting as a puppy raiser: housing and training young service dog candidates for about a year, teaching them “house manners” and social skills before returning them to Guiding Eyes for placement. “It’s a lot more work and responsibility,” she says, remarking on the three-miles-per-day exercise requirement as one factor. Still, she and her husband have found the task enjoyable and rewarding, fostering six dogs in the past eight years.

To learn more about volunteer opportunities with some of the organizations named in these pages, reach out to:

BURKE REHABILITATION HOSPITAL: Robin Goldberg; 914-597-2132 rgoldberg@burke.org

DOROT: 914-485-8354 Infowestchester@dorotusa.org

GUIDING EYES for THE BLIND: 914-245-4024

RIDECONNECT: Marietta Manoni; 914-864-2036 mmanoni@fsw.org

RSVP of WESTCHESTER: Wendy Armstrong; 914-227-9318 wendy@volunteernewyork.org

SCORE WESTCHESTER: 914-267-6570

YONKERS PARTNERS IN EDUCATION 914-377-4882

NAOMI KINSLER

Dog-lover LINDA SCHEFFEL raises, trains and fosters dogs who will one day serve as guide animals for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Since 2003, Scheffel has been a volunteer with Guiding Eyes for the Blind, a nonprofit organization that breeds, raises, trains and provides guide dogs for people with vision loss. Scheffel and her family have fostered a series of dogs, from puppies to young adults to breeding females—preparing them for lives of service. And Scheffel is utterly smitten with the whole process.

A tax lawyer and consultant who lives in Katonah, Scheffel has always loved dogs. But it wasn’t until her son Andrew needed a volunteer activity for school credit that the family checked out Guiding Eyes’ Home and Early Socialization program. into their homes for a few days, acclimating them to the activities of an average household—the smells and noises, the new practices of walking on a leash and doing their business outdoors. “We’d all take turns walking and feeding the puppy and then we’d return them,” Scheffel says. “It was perfect for our family.”

This past summer, Scheffel had three Guiding Eyes’ dogs in her home: a puppy she is raising, a breeding female she periodically transports to and from Guiding Eyes for mating and whelping, and a retired brood dog she took in after the dog was released for public adoption. “These animals are the best of the best. They’re bred for their excellent personality, intelligence and adaptability, and they come to you already well-trained,” she says. “You get to help Guiding Eyes do their wonderful work, plus you get to love and care for a dog during its best years.”

While some might find it difficult to let go of a beloved animal companion you might never see again, Scheffel is philosophical. “When you’ve done it enough, you get used to it,” she says. “For my family, this was an ideal situation. We always knew we were doing it for someone else.” She pauses. “But it’s true that you fall in love a little with every one of these dogs.”

NAOMI KINSLER is a doer.

The Hartsdale resident and self-described workaholic has held down full-time jobs for 40 years, leveraging her skills as a mathematician, project manager, and computer science geek. When corporate

LINDA SCHEFFEL

mergers did away with her various roles, instead of retiring, she simply shifted her prodigious energy and people skills to volunteering.

A few years ago, Kinsler learned about Dorot, a non-profit that provides creative programs and in-home visits for older adults in Westchester County and Manhattan. The gregarious Kinsler gravitated to the organization’s Friendly Visitor program, during which volunteers and their companions listen to music, share hobbies, or go for walks in the neighborhood, among other activities. There’s no script—they do whatever both parties enjoy doing. Says Kinsler, “It’s a wonderful way to energize people who might otherwise be sitting all day with very little interaction with others.”

Kinsler’s first assignment as a Dorot Friendly Visitor was with a gentleman in his 90s. During their times together, the two would talk about music, movies and politics, engaging in lively conversations that Kinsler describes as “the best combination of topics.” Her next gig, visiting a 94-year-old woman who lives with her daughter, has morphed into a real friendship during the five years of their acquaintance. “We used to get together [prior to Covid] in her apartment while her daughter was at work. We’d exchange photos of our families, go for walks, and just talk and talk,” Kinsler says.

Pandemic restrictions have caused some of these comfortable rhythms to shift. Currently, Dorot, a word meaning “generations,” is restricting the Friendly Visitor program to phone calls. Two calls a week didn’t seem burdensome, so Kinsler took on another client as well. While she admits it’s more challenging to develop a relationship with someone she’s never met face to face, Kinsler is finding ways of learning more about her new charge, a woman with some cognitive decline. “Her son told me she sometimes forgets how to use the phone, so it can be hard to get hold of her,” she says. “But when we do get the chance to talk, she’s always so grateful and appreciative. We’re hoping to meet in person one day soon.”

For Kinsler, the satisfaction of volunteering comes from doing something that helps the volunteer thrive as much as it helps others. “It goes both ways,” she asserts. Do her clients ever thank her for her service? “Some do, but friends don’t usually tell each other that kind of thing. It’s understood that you’re both benefiting from the relationship.”

She pauses, then adds thoughtfully, “And you know what, if this program were to end tomorrow, it wouldn’t end the friendships I’ve made. You wouldn’t be able to stop me from calling.”