Volunteer Spotlight
Noel Williams
“I like being involved with the hands on piece—hands on helping people,” says Noel Williams, president of Habitat’s Board of Directors, to explain his many varied contributions to a number of non-profits in Washington County. Education and young people are his two main passions, and “making opportunities available” to families is the driving force behind all of his work.
As his second term as president of the Board draws to a close at the end of the year, Noel says that house dedications stand out as the most meaningful times of his involvement. Seeing the new home owner together with volunteers, friends and family members and hearing how life-changing the experience of helping to build their home is makes all of the inevitable construction problems worthwhile.
Noel and his wife Shari became involved in Habitat through workdays sponsored by their church, Otterbein United Methodist. After several workdays and the experience of dry wall and roof shingles, Noel accepted a position on the Board of Directors and has served as board member, treasurer, and president.
Well prepared for board leadership by his many other experiences, Noel has been involved in key leadership roles in the United Way, San Mar Children’s Home, Cedar Ridge Children’s Home, Kaplan University, Williamsport Rotary Club, Greater Hagerstown Committee, Board of Economic Development Commission, and the Chamber of Commerce. He is a 2006 graduate of Leadership Washington County and currently serves on the LWC board of directors.
He cites two key accomplishments of his time on the Habitat Board: the establishment of ReStore and the commitment to rehab houses here in the county. A member of the ReStore Steering Committee, Noel helped locate the site and determine operational policies to insure the store’s continued success. ReStore is a “very right thing to do in this economy,” he says; it allows people to make ends meet so they can, in turn, contribute to others.
He also is excited about the prospect of Habitat rehabbing older homes, creating additional housing opportunities to improve the standard of living here in the county. Habitat rehabbing is close to becoming a reality here with the first house on the horizon next year.
“Volunteering in Habitat allows you to meet a lot of really good people,” Noel says, “people with their hearts and heads in the right places.” This is a “volunteer-driven organization,” he says, and the volunteers make the organization.
Pat Savage
Pat Savage, long-time Habitat volunteer, totally embraces the mission of Habitat for Humanity and embodies all of the qualities of an ideal volunteer.
Pat retired in 1985 from Prince George’s County, where she served as an elementary school teacher. She started volunteering for Habitat for Humanity Washington County in 2005, when a friend told her about a building blitz in Mississippi, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Pat served on the HFH building committee for six years. During that time, she began volunteering with the Women Build program and has participated in all six builds. She helped with the transition of the HFH office to its’ current location on Charles Street, and had an active role in the renovation of the Affiliate Offices & the ReStore. She then focused her efforts on the ReStore – volunteering 30 hours a week pricing items, waiting on customers, and cleaning appliances and furniture. According to Linda Shields, ReStore Manager, “Pat is an integral part of the ReStore operation.”
When she supervises ReStore volunteers, Pat says, “I won’t ask them to do anything that I wouldn’t do”. When traveling, Pat checks out other ReStores and reports that the HFHWC ReStore is one of the cleanest and most organized stores she has visited. Pat feels strongly ReStore has a great future in this tough economy offering building supplies and household items at great prices. ReStore also diverts massive amounts of donated building materials from local landfills.
When Pat is not volunteering for HFH, she likes to spend her time with Lil Bit Two, her beautiful Dachshund. She may also be fishing, a sport she’s enjoyed since she was a young girl.
David Fisher
If you want something done, the old saying goes, ask a busy person to do it! One of the busiest people in Hagerstown has to be Habitat’s David Fisher. Retired from his career as a CPA, Dave puts his financial expertise to work as volunteer Director of Finance for the local affiliate.
“I just like the mission of helping people to improve their lot in life,” Dave says to explain why he often spends as much as 40 hours a week in the Habitat office. “It’s especially meaningful to go to the dedications and see people getting a house and moving on with their lives.”
Dave has been involved with Habitat since 2000; he is in his last year of two terms on the Board of Directors. As president of the Board, he was instrumental in founding ReStore, setting up the steering committee, finding a location, and establishing the smooth operations of the store. That was just part of being president, he said; “It wasn’t anything special,” but all of the recent homeowners probably disagree with his modest self assessment.
Dave oversees all routine accounting functions for Habitat, including reviewing and signing checks, handling bank transactions, preparing monthly financial statements, arranging audits, handling taxes, managing homeowner mortgages, preparing budgets, and directing other accounting volunteers. Over the years he has saved the organization at least $200,000 in accounting fees through his services, allowing donor funds to be used to build homes and lives without being needed for administrative expenses.
“I have enjoyed getting an accounting system set up and running it,” Dave says, “taking what I was doing as a profession and extending it.” He’s looking forward to seeing Habitat expand even further into rehabbing older homes to assist more people in the community. “I really believe in what Habitat’s doing.”
He also credits Executive Director Sherry Brown Cooper for much of this affiliate’s success. “Looking back over the 12 years, we’ve been extremely fortunate to have an executive director like Sherry Cooper. Her dedication is one thing that keeps me active and interested.”
Vivian Suffecool
Calm…cool…and organized characterize Vivian Suffecool, the first recipient of HFHWC’s Volunteer Spotlight. In an organization such as Habitat, countless volunteers are needed to keep the hammers pounding and the walls being raised. However, the real keys to the operation are the organizers who can rally the troops and construct order from chaos. Vivian Suffecool is such a person.
Vivian is the Auction Pay “guru,” the key to implementing the software which controls and streamlines the annual dinner auction. She heads up registration and check out at the auction, rarely leaving the front desk, even to grab a bite to eat.
This year Vivian also took on signing up and coordinating the 100+ volunteers for the day of the auction, ensuring seamless efficiency in decorating, set-up, auction, and payment. “She did a fantastic job; we had the smoothest set up in years as well as plenty of coverage during the event,” reports Kathy Powderly, Director of Development.
In addition to her auction duties, Vivian also handles payroll for Habitat and balancing of accounts for both Habitat and ReStore. She also handles accounts payable for ReStore.
“Vivian does all that she does with Habitat while operating her own business, T B L Packaging. She arranges her personal business appointments so that she is off the week of the auction and spends every day that week in the office,” Executive Director Sherry Brown Cooper adds.
Nicknamed “the bag lady” for the packaging paper products that she wholesales to retail businesses, Vivian was recruited for Habitat seven years ago by Dori Nipps to help decorate for one of the dinner auctions. From that, her involvement mushroomed through recruiting auction items to running both Auction Pay and Peach Tree software to facilitate business operations.
She’s never actually hammered on a worksite, but she spent two summers on sites, first as host making sure volunteers had food and water on building days and later organizing the volunteers to provide the food and water. “A lot of churches come through for us in that department,” Vivian says.
This year she met one of the homeowners at the dinner and relates how special she is. “Just to know how a single working Mom can have the chance to own her own home is a good thing,” she says. “Without Habitat it probably wouldn’t happen.”
