Presentation Speech

Hello ladies and gentlemen of the community, board of directors, and REACH family and friends. As most of you already know I am Ann Van Harlingen the Executive Director of REACH of Macon County. Tonight we are here to honor a vary special lady who has given her sweat and blood, jokes and tears, and shared with us her love for life. This lady would be none other then the eminent Miss. Violet (pause for applause). Miss Violet has been a part of the REACH family for well over sixteen years now and has watched the organization blossom into what it has become today. You see, Miss Violet was there the very first day Elbi Styles, the former director, set up a small office on town hill to help women and children in need. Miss Violet was the first person to volunteer her time and was the first brain to really generate ideas on how REACH could make a difference and also make a profit. Before I present this award I would like to tell you about this extraordinary woman and all that she has done and continues to do for REACH.

First of all I would like to share with you something that most of you do not know, Miss Violet is ninety-two years old. Well that is ninety-two on paper! No one would ever know this because Miss Violet has this ability to accomplish more things than all of us put together. She not only volunteers her time at the REACH bargain store which is our thrift store that sells donations to help support the organization, but she also works the hotline. Miss Violet works two full working days in every single week of the year. She never misses her days to work and is always waiting with a smile as the rest of the staff and volunteers arrive in the mornings. She loves to discover “the treasure of the day” from the donations which then displays up front. This item is usually sold within an hour.

Miss Violet not only volunteers at the bargain store she also help us tremendously with the REACH Hotline. The Hotline volunteers sign up for five nights a month in which they are linked up to 911 to answer crisis calls. These shifts are twelve to fourteen hours long during the evening, night and early morning. The job consists of counseling these potential clients over the phone as well as possibly having to go to the sheriff’s office or hospital to aid and assist the client. To be able to serve as a Hotline volunteer Miss Violet went through a twenty-hour domestic violence-training course as well as a thirty-hour sexual assault training course. As you can see this is not an easy task but her dedication and caring carries her through anything. Overall Miss Violet is a part of every process these clients go through. She assists victims and theirs families from point of prevention and crisis through the healing process to adjudication of the court system. She is involved with every thing; we wonder what we would do without her.

REACH stands for resources, education, assistance, counseling, and housing. Our mission is to provide intervention through community outreach and prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault in the community through education. Miss Violet represents every one of these ideas and goals. She holds REACH’s beliefs and values to the highest. Through empathy and unwavering determination she has set a goal herself to put an end to domestic violence and sexual assault once and for all.

This not something we do every year, as a matter of fact we have never done this before, but the family and friends of REACH of Macon County think this award is well over due. All of our employees, volunteers, and clients unanimously agree that Miss Violet is undoubtedly the heart and soul of our organization. If there were requirements for any award that REACH presents she has met all of them. We owe her much more than just our gifts and a plaque; we owe our utmost respect and love. This great lady has shown us what it truly means it give back to the community. So now if you would all please stand to give Miss Violet a big round of applause as she comes up here to receive this token of our appreciation the award for the Best Volunteer in History!