Volunteer Spotlight - Why I Volunteer by Christine Reinhardt
Why I Volunteer: by Christine Reinhardt
Let me start with a quote I found somewhere.“A volunteer doesn’t necessarily have the time, they have the heart!”
My son went into the Army July 8, 2008 the month after he graduated high school. I thought it was going to kill me when he left! When the Army got my son, they got me too! I decided to get involved and do some kind of drive for the soldiers for Christmas. At work, I found an Operation Homefront magnet and called the number on it and talked to Rob Mochen for quite awhile. I told him I really would like to volunteer in my area because it would make me feel like I was giving something back while my son was gone. I told him I had collected quite a bit of things for Christmas but I was getting ready to head to Ft. Leonard Wood Missouri to see my son graduate. That is where I actually had my first experience with Operation Homefront. I took a load of donations to Jon Jerome.
Rob then connected me with Vivian Dietrich. I volunteer because helping other people is what truly makes me happy and it is my way of giving back We have jobs that pay our bills but, this goes way beyond that. Volunteering for something that you are passionate about and something that you can see really makes a difference just makes you beam with pride!
During a Walter Reed’s Oktoberfest I was going back and forth with Vivian on ideas; first I told her I would make a donation for a door prize, then I called her back and said “you know what?, never mind, I am just going to see what I can do and I am going to get raffle prizes from business and just give all the Wounded Warriors free raffle tickets for the prizes!" Well, I did better than I even thought I was going to do and ended up with way too much. I am doing it again for the Christmas party! I just want to tell all our troops a few things!
1) You are ALL my heroes!!
2) With you there is hope, without you there is no freedom!
3) If I could shake each of your hands and hug you and keep you safe, I would!