Making It Personal

Flip randomly through the 320 organizations in this year’s Charity Register, and you can’t help but land on a deserving group that would benefit from your financial contribution. But for many across the region, the act of giving has transcended simply writing a check at a black-tie gala. More than ever, philanthropy includes a hands-on commitment.

Those moved to charitable efforts are getting involved by donating their time and talents to deserving organizations that often need manpower as much as money. For their efforts, these benefactors-turned-volunteers say they get greater satisfaction from seeing the fruits of their labors firsthand.

Here are nine Southwest Florida folks who decided to roll up their sleeves, dig in and give something back.

“You See That Every Penny Counts”
It was the animals that drew Charmaine Yeadon to Sanibel Island. When she first drove through the mangrove-lined streets in 1978, she fell in love with the raccoon signs that said, “Protect our friends.” Yeadon decided to relocate there and do just that.

The animal lover has been volunteering every Sunday at CROW, the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife, for the past seven years. She spends a full day—sometimes 12 hours—cleaning cages, feeding baby birds, doing laundry, shadowing the doctors, and rescuing and releasing wildlife. “I think you realize what is involved with the organization when you’re seeing the day-to-day [operations],” she says. “You see that every penny counts.”

Yeadon, who works full-time for the City of Sanibel, believes strongly in contributing to the community. “You reach the stage in life where you wonder if you’re running out of time,” she says. “You say, ‘I’ll do this in retirement,’ and then you think, ‘What’s wrong with today?’”
When it’s the height of bird season, she is feeding up to 50 birds a day. But the clinic will house and rehabilitate any wildlife—possums, raccoons, herons, eagles, ospreys, sea turtles. Once, a lady even brought in a lizard she stepped on, Yeadon says with a laugh.

While sometimes she’s sent on rescue missions—she once chased an injured pelican around the beach—the most rewarding experience for her is the release. “When you open that box, and they get their bearings, and they soar off, it’s just fantastic,” she says.

“It Isn’t Hard to Build a House”
In north Cape Coral, four retirees are building a three-bedroom house. It’s one of the 10 houses the group is constructing simultaneously this summer for Lee County’s Habitat for Humanity.
The lone woman in the group, Sanibel resident Donna Aldrich, has been building for Habitat for 16 years, beginning in Fort Myers’ Harlem Heights. “I just showed up with a hammer,” she says.
“Thank God for a lot of patient men.”

Alongside Aldrich is 82-year-old Harold Elsesser, who’s been building for Habitat for 18 years; Myles Hill, who has been building for five years; and Bill Barbre, who has three and a half years with the group. They joke that they’ve all been kicked out of the house by their spouses and just needed something to do. But Terri Rausch, volunteer coordinator for Lee County’s Habitat, disagrees. “I don’t think we could function without that group,” she says.

In season, the foursome swells to a team of six, with the addition of Jerry Havill and Norm Landis. Habitat for Humanity builds 75 houses a year in Lee County, and “our hands touch at least half of them,” Donna says. She estimates the group has built more than 400 houses together over the years.

“It isn’t hard to build a house,” she says, “and it’s very rewarding.”

“We Can Do Something About It”
As intake counselors at the Neighborhood Health Clinic, Kitty and Dan Sachs are on the front lines of the healthcare crisis. The clinic provides medical care to low-income, uninsured adults living in Collier County. Operating almost solely with volunteers, it treats between 80 and 100 people per week. On Mondays, the retired couple volunteers to interview potential patients and help them with the paperwork to get them into the system.

“[Low-income, uninsured] people end up with dealing with health concerns only when a crisis occurs, and [they] end up going to the ER,” says Kitty. “The clinic gives them an opportunity to be proactive about healthcare and not just reactive.”

The Sachses, who have been volunteering for the clinic for four years, see between six and 12 patients a day. Kitty says the hands-on volunteering gives them a greater perspective on their lives. “I think many people who move to Naples and retire and play golf and socialize kind of lose that perspective and don’t realize what real problems are, and that there are people in our community who have them, and that we can do something about it.”

Kitty also volunteers for the Literacy Counsel of Collier County and for Hospice of Naples, visiting patients with her cat, Max. Dan has been volunteering his business expertise for SCORE of Naples for five years. “There’s something three or four days of the week,” she says. “We still leave some time for golf and fun. We’re not giving that up, but it makes that seem all the more worthwhile.”

“They See That Someone Actually Cares”
Giving back is a mother-daughter affair for Kiersten Mooney and her mom, Maryann Duvall.

The duo has a two-pronged approach to helping WINGS, Women in Need of Growth Services, a transition house in east Naples that provides lodging for six women recovering from substance abuse. Mooney, who has been involved with WINGS for seven years, is the president of the board and helps organize fundraising, while 60-year-old Duvall works in the home. “She spends an incredible amount of hands-on time with the women,” Mooney says of her mom, who holds meetings and does case work with the residents. “She is a mentor for a lot of these women.”

Since 1991, the house has provided a safe transitional home for young women who have struggled with drug addiction and are released from jail or treatment centers. The 12-step, recovery-based program gives them the tools they need to go back into the community. “When you do give, it is so rewarding to see [their faces] light up when they see that someone actually cares.

“We didn’t have a lot growing up,” Mooney continues, “and in our community there is such a varied degree of resources. It can be very easy to write a check, but people need your time and energy. Sometimes you have got to get in there, and you’ve got to get your hands very dirty. It keeps you grounded.”