Excited volunteers ready to take calls!
Volunteering can be an incredibly rewarding experience. Our annual telethons have been blessed with amazing group of people that are able to be part of the process to helps us provide shelter, meals and care for people in the Portland area who are suffering with homelessness.
Whether answering phone calls or entering incoming data, our volunteers play an important part of our day.
Volunteers answering phones during our 2019 Shelter 365 telethon
Two volunteer behind the scenes, entering incoming data.
Dorothy and Wayne, two volunteers, came back for their second telethon after seeing the need for change in their city.
Wayne answeing a phone call
“We came to Portland in 2003 and it was a different town,” Wayne and Dorothy say. “In every community, there are people who are on the fringes, thats not unusual. But the longer we stayed here, we saw a real transformation in Portland and it made us reflective and sad.”
Dorothy spoke about how her parents were missionaries in Africa. “The altruistic mission of serving started when I was a kid. My parents did two tours there, as medical missionaries.”
Dorothy and other volunteers answer phone calls during a busy segment.
After watching her parents journey and spending her own time volunteering, she mades an important realization: “We forget to see each other as people that have more in common that we realize. The stories are the same, the backgrounds are different. It’s the same: the feelings, the emotions, the tragedies… A lot of that came from a very early background of seeing my parents do service and both me and my husband have a heart for that.”
All of our volunteers share the same love for their community that Wayne and Dorothy do and the joy flowing from their hearts is apparent. During breaks, laughter is heard, stories are told and friendships are formed. Thank you to Famous Footwear, Bryce, Dorothy, and all the rest of our amazing volunteers who gave their time during our March 365 Telethon at KATU, we appreciate you more than you know.
If you are interested in volunteering at any of our events, Click here!