NMHS Press Release - 55 Volunteers Honored at Reception
NM Historical Society volunteers honored for 100 hours of
service:
Joyce Mills, NMHS President Mary Chrastil, Mary Ann Swihart.
2017 NM Historical Society Volunteers of the Year Joan Fahs
and Joe Vogel with NM Historical Society President Mary Chrastil.
NMHS volunteers who earned their 100-hour t-shirts in past
years. Front Row:
Barb Amiss, Diane Eshelman, Paula Dee, Gladys Airgood, Mary Chrastil.
Second Row: Tom Brown,
Bernie Ferringer, Kathy Prater, Joyce Joy, Kay Barnett, Jack Schuler, Nancy
Schuler.
NM Historical Society Honors Volunteers
April is National Volunteer Month.
On April 24, 2018 the North Manchester Historical Society honored 55
volunteers at a reception at the NM Center for History.
The volunteers served as docents, researchers, exhibit planners, exhibit
fabricators, artists, Thomas Marshall House docents, board members, program
planners, school day volunteers, administrators, and in many other capacities.
NMHS is a virtually all-volunteer run organization, so it is deeply
grateful for volunteer support.
A highlight of the evening was honoring volunteers who have
accumulated 100 hours of service.
These milestone volunteers received a polo shirt with the NM Center for History
logo. Those reaching the 100 hour
mark this year were Joyce Mills and Mary Ann Swihart.
Volunteer of the Year awards were given to Joe Vogel and
Joan Fahs. According to NMHS
President Mary Chrastil, Joe has been on the board of trustees of the Center for
History since the group started to discuss buying the former Oppenheim
Department Store in 2000. He’s
currently on the Center’s accessions, planning and job search committees.
Through the years he’s helped with construction, moving, building
shelving and exhibits, maintaining artifacts, working in the archives and
serving as a docent when school children visit.
Joan has been one of the Center’s most faithful volunteers, contributing
almost 600 hours despite having been out of town for long periods each winter
for several years. Besides being a
docent, Joan maintains NMHS’s file on obituaries, a frequent request from
researchers. According to Chrastil,
“If we need a volunteer during school visits or FunFest, Joan says yes.
She always says yes.”
This year, volunteers recorded 7,090 hours of service from
April 31, 2017 through March 31, 2018, the equivalent of 3.4 Full Time
Employees. Total volunteer hours since the Center opened are 78,833.
Using the guidelines provided by The Independent Sector volunteer
website, the 78,833 hours translate into volunteer services valued at
$1,857,305. In other words,
Historical Society volunteers have donated 1.86 million dollars of service since
the Society began keeping records in 2000.
The North Manchester Historical Society operates the North
Manchester Center for History and the Thomas Marshall House Museum and sponsors
monthly public programs on history-related topics.
NMHS also provides educational programs for 2nd and 3rd
grade students and history-themed excursions in partnership with Shepherd’s
Center. The NMHS collection of
artifacts includes over 29,000 items.