Village Volunteers hosts annual appreciation breakfast
Village Volunteers hosted its annual Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast April 15 at the Atlantic Sands in Rehoboth Beach.
“What you guys do is so important,” said Village Volunteers Executive Director Anna Moshier, who has been at the organization’s helm since March 2024.
Lewes-based Village Volunteers is a nonprofit with a mission to help older adults live independently for as long as possible. It was founded in 2013 and serves Lewes, Milton, Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach. A second branch, South Coastal Village Volunteers, was founded in July 2020, serving the communities of Bethany Beach, Millville, Ocean View and South Bethany.
According to Moshier, between Village Volunteers and South Coastal Village Volunteers, there are 348 active volunteers serving 332 members. Over the course of 2024, those volunteers contributed about 20,500 hours of work, provided about 12,800 services and drove nearly 165,000 miles.
The financial impact of all that work is more than $680,000, which is more than double the organization’s budget, said Moshier.
Deb Dobransky was named the 2024 Village Volunteers Volunteer of the Year and was presented a Senate tribute by Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, for her efforts. Over the course of the past year, Dobransky had the most hours of providing direct services overall at 554.4, the most contributed hours in the volunteer office at 660.2, the most shopping trips for member services at 92 and the fourth-most transportation services at 159.
Dobransky was the big winner, but others were recognized too, and Village Volunteers Membership Service Manager Emily Buckingham had the pleasure of reading off those winners:
• Volunteers with the most hours providing direct services overall, after Dobransky, were Suzanne Hain at 490.8 hours, Ketty Bennet at 454.6 hours, Barry Troup at 253.5 hours and Tracey Gersh at 212.5 hours
• The volunteer to provide the most handyman services was Jerry Picard, with 42 services
• The volunteer who provided the most household support services was Del LeBarron, with 124 services
• Volunteers with the most contributed hours in the volunteer office, after Dobransky, were Bennet at 345 hours, Carol Stutts at 306 hours, Anne Canan at 261 hours and Hain at 236 hours
• The volunteer who provided the most tech assistance was David Garner, with eight services
• The volunteer who provided the most friendly visits was Sheri Ackerman, with 58 visits
• Volunteers who provided the most transportation services, other than Dobransky, were Troup at 177 transports, Hain at 177 transports, Stutts at 163 transports and Thomas Marmion at 136 transports
• The volunteer to provide the most friendly phone check-ins was Tracy Gersh, with 71 phone calls.
For more information on Village Volunteers, go to villagevolunteer.org, email info@villagevolunteer.org or call 302-703-2568.
For more information on South Coastal Village Volunteers, go to southcoastalvillagevolunteers.org, email info@villagevolunteers.org or call 302-500-1281.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. Additionally, Flood moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes that are jammed with coins during daylight hours, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
