Volunteer Award
in NADSA Awards
The Volunteer Award recognizes and celebrates outstanding contributions by a volunteer in your adult day center. The individual demonstrates exceptional commitment and exemplifies the spirit of service for the center. A candidate is an unpaid individual, 21 years of age or above, who has volunteered with the day center for at least two years.
Lisa Waldron
Senior Adult Day Program at James L. West, Fort Worth, TX
| Lisa Waldron |
Lisa is one of the most exceptional people you will ever meet. In my 12 years in the Adult Day Care industry, I had never met such a dedicated volunteer. As soon as Lisa walks through our doors at the Senior Adult Day Program at the James L. West Center, her bubbly personality, love, and dedication is obvious to everyone.
She has been a volunteer in our program for the past 24 years and, without fail, she and her faithful companion Halle Berry provide an hour of pet therapy and the Word of God through bible study and prayer.
Our participants look forward to Lisa's smiling face every week and they enjoy her dog show, which includes tricks such as Cha-Cha dancing and a simulation of Stop, Drop & Roll. After the dog show, Lisa uplifts their spirits with the Good Word and talks about the promise of love that God has for all of us.
No matter how busy she is, she always has time for us. She is our biggest cheerleader and supporter. She talks with each participant and asks them about their day, she is warm and caring to each staff member and has helped us with other projects such as our Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive. Rain or shine, cold weather or sweltering heat, Lisa and Halle Berry have made it one of their missions to make one day a week a special and memorable event for our participants, a million thank you cards or a million lifetimes would never be enough to thank Lisa for all that she has done for us these past 24 years.
She has shown us the true spirit of giving back to your fellow brother, neighbor, and friend. There have been times that she might have been in pain or under the weather, but you would never know it, because she's just not the type of person that shows it. She has one of the greatest human spirits because she can see what others cannot, she can see past the disease that has ravished the majority of our participants…Alzheimer's.
God has truly touched a very special person, and for all that she has done in the past, present, and will do in the future, the Senior Adult Day Program staff and participants would like to say thank you to a great woman who has gone to great lengths to make days seem a little brighter for a person who battles this terrible disease.
As I sit in my office on those early Monday mornings with piles of paperwork, emails, and phone messages, I hear Lisa's voice and Halle Berry's dog collar and I can feel my participants smiling. I’ve heard the saying that "In life, no one is indispensable." I think that those people have never met Lisa Waldron.
—Trish Botello
Congratulations 2011 National Adult Day Services Award Winners! Thank you for continuing to make a difference in the lives of others every day!