Letter to the editor: CAAC volunteers are family
CAAC volunteers are family
Over the years, Clover Area Assistance Center has been blessed with hundreds of volunteers who are its heart and soul. Several volunteers have been with us since the days before the Clover Caring Center and the Good Neighbor Pantry merged to form CAAC in 1999.
Even the River Hills Lions Club, who started the Good Neighbor Pantry in the mid-’80s, continues to support CAAC and provide volunteers. And those who are no longer physically able to volunteer, continue to support CAAC monetarily.
Along with volunteering at CAAC comes a sense of belonging. CAAC volunteers are a group of everyday people working together to help others. Through commitment to help others, our volunteers are more than friends, they are family.
CAAC volunteers enjoy what they do and genuinely care for everyone who walks through our doors in search of assistance. But sometimes, we lose our loved volunteers as they are called to walk through a different set of doors into heaven.
In the past few years, we have grieved the passing of some of the members of our volunteer family: Carol Jacobson, Gale Jones, Alma Sherrill. Now, yet another member of our family has moved on, Michael McCarthy. Michael was a man of wit, intelligence and humor, who was above all else, a very kind man. We will miss his stories, his jokes, his Irish Brogue and his German elocution. Most of all, we will miss Michael. Michael’s wife, Ann, also is a volunteer and member of our CAAC family. To Ann we express our deepest sympathy.
Although we all feel sadness for this loss, we also cannot help but smile, because we know Michael will be forever telling his tall Irish tales and sharing his infectious laugh. Er wird sehr vermisst warden. He will be greatly missed.
Karen van Vierssen, CAAC executive director
This story was originally published August 24, 2015 at 11:56 AM with the headline "Letter to the editor: CAAC volunteers are family."