This Hat is Fitted for Only One Person 
 
It has been said over and over again that the volunteers of Mission Central are our most important assets.  We have them come in to sort donated materials, assemble our relief kits for UMCOR, sort clothing, wash the floors, shovel snow, help with mailings, greet everyone that walks through our door, and even scrub the toilets from time to time.  With all these people-hundreds a month-with only a four person staff to organize their efforts, we tend to rely on the well-trained regular volunteers to help lead the groups of people who come in every day. 
Our "regulars" become our eyes and ears, in a sense, on days when everything seems to be happening at once.  Today Donna ordered close to six hundred nail clippers with her own funds because she doesn't want the groups she helps lead every Saturday to run out as they're verifying Health Kits designated for Haiti.  If you've come to volunteer at all in the past six years, you've most likely were told the right way of kit assembly by Rhoda.  I know have been on more than one occasion.  If you're involved with HUB activities, then you've probably met Jean.  Dave and Jim are two brothers who just recently started up one of our newest "entities," Mission Transport, where they pick up and deliver donated materials throughout the area.  I wish I could list the efforts of every amazing volunteer that comes in to help, but this newsletter isn't capable of issuing the volumes it would take for such a collection of praises.  Our volunteers have become part of our close-knit Mission Central family, some equipped with name tags and all. 
Then there are those volunteers that help us in tremendous ways without even coming to our facility.  Someone I'd like to focus on in this week's edition of the Mission Link is the "Hat Lady," Shirley.  I got a request from Shirley's church group, Calvary United Methodist Women in Mohnton, PA, to write a short something about her for an honorary service in her name.  I'll do you one better, Shirley.
Shirley has been coming here for years and has become quite well known as the "Hat Lady."  She brings a smile to everyone's face when she walks in each time with someone new, showing them all the things she is so proud to be a part of.  Shirley has brought groups in with her to work and always comes with donations of some sort or another.  She is also responsible for writing the thank you letters to all our other volunteers that sign in at the front door.  She uses her own supplies and stamps and takes care of all this right from her home!  We had over 3,700 volunteers that signed in last year alone, and Shirley wrote a thank you letter to every one of them.  To write something up for Shirley, I went around and asked everyone in the building, "Do you know the Hat Lady?" and every single one of them shared some sort of heart-warming story about how Shirley has touched their lives.  That is an awesome gift.  I started wondering if Shirley herself has ever gotten a thank you for her much appreciated work and loving personality. 
It's amazing to me that so many people are touched by the work done for Mission Central, in and beyond our walls.  It must be well into the thousands, but we only hear of such a small number of those people.  Thank you to all the volunteers that help us in our mission, and a bigger thank you to Shirley, the "Hat Lady," for taking the time to recognize each one of those volunteers.  You truly are a gift to this mission.  

Submitted by Stephen Thompson 

Volunteer Coordinator

Mission Central