Marie Evans has generously volunteered her time at Hope Alliance during the past 3 years. According to Marie, after she retired from a law firm in Austin and her husband passed away, she had a lot of free time on her hands. An avid golfer, Marie was playing golf one day with a group of people who supported Hope Alliance. It was then she learned about the agency needs and how she could help lend her support. Shortly afterwards, Marie played in one of our annual tournaments at Cimarron Hills in Georgetown before signing up to attend the new advocate training class.
Since joining Hope Alliance, Marie has helped in several areas including administrative office support, working after school with children after school at the shelter, and decorating the facility during the Holidays.
These days, Marie answers the hotline on Fridays, and provides crisis intervention and telephone advocacy to callers in need of agency services, or simply a listening ear. Marie explained she was apprehensive to take calls at first, but surprised herself at how well the experience has been.
As a member of the Faith Baptist Church “the little white church on the hill” in Round Rock, Marie is liaison for the church and is responsible for procuring donations. Last Mother’s Day, Marie made the gifts for all of the mothers at the shelter. This year, she will be conducting a Christmas toy drive with the church.
Marie also volunteers with the Education Connection at Forest Creek Elementary in Round Rock and reads with the kids who are having problems with their reading skills. Their mission is to have every child reading on grade level by the end of 3rd grade.
We are so fortunate to have Marie as one of the first voices hotline callers hear when reaching out for help. And we thank Marie for her invaluable dedication and committment to the Hope Alliance mission!
Caitlin is a long way from where she grew up in Buffalo, New York. After attending Syracuse University, studying psychology and specializing in child and family studies, Caitlin moved to Texas three and a half years ago and is currently Vice President, Product Management & Field Technology at NFP (National Financial Partners) in Austin.
While looking for a volunteer opportunity last winter, Caitlin came across an announcement about a new advocate training class, which was coincidentally three days away. She said, “I can see how volunteering at the shelter can be an eye-opening experience. Many people think someone leaves a bad situation for a really nice oasis at the shelter and everything is fine from there on out.”
When talking about her experiences as a shelter volunteer, Caitlin stated, “Overall, I’ve had really positive interactions with staff and everyone has been very helpful and really nice. Experiences with clients are most impactful when I start to have conversations with clients and just let them talk. Just listening…I really enjoy that part.” She believes the difficult part of volunteering at the shelter is seeing clients return. “Even though the hard part is seeing them return, it’s better than staying in dangerous situations,” she said.
Caitlin created a professional development folder to provide shelter residents. Since volunteering at Hope Alliance, she represented the agency at the Child Abuse Prevention March in Austin and organized a successful fundraising event for Hope Alliance at Soul Cycle in Austin, which raised almost $1,000. By spreading the word, she raised more than $3,000 for Hope Alliance during Amplify Austin earlier this year.
We appreciate Caitlin’s amazing involvement with Hope Alliance including her client support, fundraising and public awareness endeavors.