Sondra Peppe thought she was at the meeting for Thrift Shop volunteers on September 1st to add her wisdom to the presentation being done by Kathy Hafner, Thrift Shop manager. So she was totally suprised when the ALNC Board of Directors walked in singing and handing her balloons and flowers as all the people in attendance yelled, congratulations. Beverly Charles, President, announced that Sondra had been chosen as our Volunteer of the Year. It was a perfect opportunity to present her with the honor since her heart is dedicated to our Thrift Shop. Sondra has been a very busy member of our Chapter since 2014. She previously managed the shop, and has just completed two years as president of our Chapter. She steered our ship through the perilous waters of the coronavirus and kept our ship afloat. She organized our first vitual fundraiser, Step Up for Kids, which raised over $19,000. She guided us through a huge learning curve to be able to use Zoom for both our Board of Directors and Chapter meetings and worked on updating our voting and non-voting members list, and negotiated a rent agreement for both our Thrift Shop and Sparkle House with our landlord to carry us through the epidemic financially. Sondra worked with her community of Oceanhills who donated thousands of dollars' worth of items for our Thrift Shop. She also partnered with National AL to update our bylaws and added a new position on the board of president elect.
As Rosemary Beaurline, her friend and member since 2013, stated, the reason I voted for Sondra on the Survey Monkey is because she inspires members to do their best and give as much as they can in our effort to raise money for ALNC where it is all about kids.
Sondra is truly an inspiration to all and an energizer bunny that just keeps giving.
