Around the World with CFCA

Happy birthday, Sarge

November 5, 2009 at 2:29 pm Natasha 4 comments

Every year CFCA processes an estimated 1.5 million letters from sponsored children and elderly. Each of these letters, with mailing labels, must be put into envelopes before they can be mailed to the sponsors.

You might think we need a small army to get this done. But, we have something better: a group of 35 highly dedicated volunteers.

And today, one of those volunteers, Angie Simms, is celebrating her 95th birthday!

Angie has been helping CFCA for 25 years, making her our longest-serving volunteer. She averages around 570 volunteer hours per year.

The staff and other volunteers know Angie simply and affectionately as “Sarge,” both for her military background (she served in the Women’s Army Corps in World War II) and her no-nonsense manner.

“She’s very spit-fire, and brings humor to the work place,” said Colleen McKeone, CFCA coordinator of child letters who works closely with the volunteers. “She has no qualms about speaking her mind. I enjoy her presence very much.”

For those who take the time to listen, Angie has a wealth of stories and life lessons. She’ll also trade some one-liners with anyone who’s quick enough to keep up with her.

After thousands of volunteer hours and probably millions of letters, we wonder what makes her so steadfast. Her brisk answer is pretty simple:

“God must have left me here in this world to do something.”

We’re glad He has, Sarge.

Happy birthday!

Entry filed under: Around the World with CFCA. Tags: aging, cfca, children, christian, letters, technorati.