The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation is pleased to announce its Community Champions for its first quarter of FY23. These employees were nominated by their colleagues and are being recognized for their work with local nonprofit organizations, where they dedicate their time and talents to improve quality of life for their communities. The Champions’ chosen nonprofits received a $2500 grant from the Foundation.
Julie Bates, Senior Manager of Human Resources, Specialty Health and Rehabilitation
Julie volunteers with 53 Families Foundation to bring warm meals, programming, and a childhood football camp to families and kids in Baltimore every year.
“I volunteer with 53 Families because when I was a young mom I experienced times when it was difficult to make ends meet or provide my kids with healthy meals. I have 5 children that are now grown. When they were younger, I had a great support network around me that made the difficult times a little better. 53 Families focuses on families. The founder of the organization experienced homelessness as a child and had a very unstable home environment” said Julie about her commitment to 53 Families’ mission and work. Julie has been part of the organization since its inception in 2010, acting as the events coordinator.
Morgan Price, Training and Development Specialist, CSS Iowa
Morgan volunteers with Allen Child Protection Center (ACPC) in Waterloo, IA. ACPC serves children who have been victims of abuse or a witness to violent crime. “I am passionate about child welfare. As somebody who grew up in a broken foster care system, I want to help be a solution to assist children in finding their voice and ending child abuse,” says Morgan about her connection to the organization’s important work.
As a volunteer, Morgan sits on ACPC’s community board, organizes fundraisers and hosts a toy program to ensure every child served by ACPC receives a toy when they come for counseling services.
Rachel Schlotfelt, Program Director, CSS Iowa
Rachel has volunteered weekly for over 5 years at SAINT Rescue and Adoption Center, dedicating every Saturday to the animal center. Rachel manages and trains volunteers and runs an adoption open house every month. She also fosters animals from SAINT in need of personalized care.
When asked about her dedication to SAINT, Rachel said, “I volunteer with SAINT to be a support for cats and kittens in need of saving. It is also so rewarding to help people find cats to adopt to make a part of their family. I have enjoyed being the volunteer coordinator and helping more community members to be involved with the rescue, including individuals with disabilities. We have a large volunteer base and it is nice to help bring people onto the team”.