2012_Mar_Speaker_Pat_Widlowski

At the Council's March 6 membership meeting, Lecturer Bob Honzik introduced Pat Widlowski, who co-chairs Sacred Heart's Helping Hands with Cathy Wedrick.  Cathy was unable to attend.  

While the Helping Hands Ministry has been active in Sacred Heart for quite some time as part of its Social Justice efforts, the processes were completely manual.  When Pat and Cathy became co-chairs, they decided to seek the assistance of another parishioner, Kathy Geske, to design and implement a data base which facilitates matching a client's needs with a volunteer.  All of the volunteers and the services they are willing to provide are listed on the data base for speedy searches when a request is submitted. 

Pat shared some information about the services provided during a 12-month period, October 2010 - October 2011, based upon volunteer reports.  The data show that 145 volunteers donated 1,114 hours and drove 4,255 miles.  The majority of the miles (2,730) were to Hot Springs while 1,005 were driven within the Village and 180 to Little Rock.
Cathy and Pat have encouraged volunteers to begin new ministries.  For example, Ann Bowman started Home Visitations with 14 parishioners currently being visited at home each month.  Also, A.J. Keating and Mary Harmeyer recently began a Greeting Card Ministry.

Referrals for assistance come from potential clients themselves, other parishioners, home health agencies, Father Bill, Linda in the parish office, neighbors, and children of Villagers.  Each referral requires an evaluation to determine the type(s) of services needed.

Some of the other services in addition to transportation for parishioners include: shopping; visiting at Good Sam and similar facilities; providing respite to care givers; assisting with personal grooming and household duties; and, conducting a buddy phone system.  

Pat passed out blue volunteer forms and encouraged knights to consider joining the Helping Hands' volunteers.