Berkshire Senior Online

Myrna Rosenberg - SHINE Volunteer of the Year

After a 30-year career as a high school teacher and assistant principal, Myrna Rosenberg found herself back in class four years ago, learning how to counsel elders on issues such as insurance coverage, medical billing and prescription drug benefits. She travels from her home in Otis to attend monthly SHINE meetings. As an Elder Services SHINE volunteer she also guides elders to other Elder Services programs; she has expedited hospital admissions, steered clients to Meals on Wheels, and once helped a handicapped woman shop for a special chair. Myrna is pleased with the recognition she is receiving for her services to seniors, but said: "I just get an inner reward. That’s the most important thing."
 

Wally Boyer - Ombudsman Volunteer of the Year

  A poster on Wally Boyer’s office wall says: "You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give."
  That summarizes the philosophy Wally, a resident of Cheshire, has taken with him in his four years of visiting residents of the Mount Greylock Nursing Home as an Elder Services ombudsman. He listens to their problems and tries to help solve them.
  "I get a lot of personal satisfaction out of this," he says. "I volunteer for all kinds of things. I’ve done it all my life."
  Wally also finds time from his insurance business to serve his church and is a prominent Lions Club volunteer, but he says that "of all the things I do, I think the ombudsman program has probably been the most rewarding."
 

John Tufo - Community Services Volunteer of the Year

  John Tufo used to operate a limousine service that took travelers to airports. Now he drives patients to medical appointments as an Elder Services transportation volunteer.
  He also helps prepare Meals on Wheels weekly at the Nutrition Program’s Lanesboro kitchen.
  John became an Elder Services volunteer because "I needed something to do. I had a lot of time and I thought, ‘Why not drive for Elder Services?’ I had the vehicle and the time and the knowledge. and I know Pittsfield very well."
When he is not behind the wheel of his Cadillac, John also servestravelers as an RSVP volunteer providing tourist information at the Pittsfield Visitors Center.
 

Barbara Callahan - Nutrition Volunteer of the Year

  You can tell that Barbara Callahan is having a lot more fun these days making sure that lunches are delivered and served at the Elder Services’ Hinsdale congregate meal site than she did in 14 years delivering newspaperson routes she inherited from her sons.
  Ever cheerful and never without a joke, Barbara has been the volunteer manager of the site since 1997, six years after she started as a volunteer, setting tables and helping with food service .
  Throughout the years she has been an active fund-raiser for the Heart Association and the Cancer Fund, as well as for the raffles that have earned substantial amounts for the Elder Services Meals Nutrition Program.
 

  "We are the eyes and ears of our clients." is Joseph Tirrell’s description of the function of the Elder Services Money Management volunteers who help clients write checks, balance bank accounts and manage their expenses.
  On his retirement four years ago after 26 years as a United Parcel Service driver, Joe, a Pittsfield resident, became an Elder Services shopper, buying groceries and other supplies for homebound clients, and then a Money Management counselor. Joe sometimes observes that a client does not seem to be "up to par" or that food is scarce.
  Money Management volunteers see their clients at least once, sometimes twice a month. "You see things that probably no one else would," he said. "We refer people to Meals on Wheels and other Elder Services programs and a Meals on Wheels driver may lead them to Money Management. Referrals go both ways."