Sights for Hope Honors its 2023 Volunteer Excellence Award Winners
Sights for Hope honored its 2023 volunteer excellence award recipients this week during its second annual Team Recognition Luncheon.
The luncheon was held at The Phoenix facility in Nazareth, PA, to commemorate National Volunteer Week. It highlighted the efforts of Sights for Hope’s 58 active volunteers, including members of its Board of Directors, and its staff professionals.
Kristen Jenkins of Allentown, PA, was honored with the Annie Sullivan Volunteer Spirit Award, which recognizes a commitment to helping others by a volunteer that exemplifies Annie Sullivan’s spirit of teaching and friendship to Helen Keller. Kristen has volunteered as an office assistant for nearly eight years.
Karen Baer of Emmaus, PA, was honored with the Annie’s Angel Volunteer Impact Award, which recognizes a volunteer who has made an impact that has improved a Sights for Hope client’s quality of life. Karen volunteers with Sights for Hope’s weekly mall walk client activity.
Jenni Rach of Allentown, PA, was honored with the Helping Hands Volunteer Award, which recognizes volunteer dedication to a variety of projects that benefit people with visual impairments in Sights for Hope’s communities, as exemplified by Helen Keller. Jenni and her daughter, Caroline, have assisted Sights for Hope on several fundraising initiatives.
Sirena Saleet of Allentown, PA, was honored with the Knight in Shining Armor Volunteer Award, which recognizes a volunteer who exemplifies versatility and dependability to respond to critical needs. Sirena is a volunteer vision screener for Sights for Hope’s Prevention Services team.
Volunteers also were honored with service tenure awards. Linwood Gehris, a Sights for Hope board member and a former Board President, received a ten-year service award. Volunteers Francis Herman of Northampton, PA; Liane Sinkovits of Whitehall, PA; and Eileen Strohl of Bethlehem, PA received five-year service awards.
Sights for Hope offers several volunteer opportunities – including positions as guided transport drivers, vision screeners, in-home companions, office assistants, and work on fundraising initiatives and special events.
Sights for Hope bestowed five-year professional service awards to Noel Penaloza, a Lehigh Valley Transport Driver, and Dennis Zehner, its Executive Director and CEO. The organization also honored Ruthie Asmus, who retired on April 17 after 17 years of service as a Prevention Specialist.
National Volunteer Week was established in 1974 by President Richard Nixon.
Sights for Hope transforms the lives of people with visual impairments and blindness by removing the barriers to their independence. Sights for Hope’s services teach adaptive skills to accomplish daily life activities; provide supports that counter the effects of visual impairments and blindness; increase access to medical care, healthy food, and other essentials; and advance solutions that enhance sight capabilities. More than 40% of Sights for Hope’s clients live below or near the federal poverty line. Founded in 1928, Sights for Hope carries forward in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley and Monroe County a tradition of service inspired by Helen Keller and is a member of the Pennsylvania Association for the Blind.
Image: Two volunteer honorees posing with Rita Lang, Sights for Hope’s Client Activities Manager