Above from left, Tom Vander Meulen – Outstanding Volunteer, Hesed House; John Koranda – Commercial Banking Officer, Naperville Bank & Trust.
Volunteer – Tom Vander Meulen
Organization – Hesed House
www.hesedhouse.org
Because everyone deserves dignity
Tom Vander Meulen has brought the term “super volunteer” to a whole new level at Hesed House.
As the second largest homeless shelter in the state and one of five shelters in the nation to provide wrap-around services for our guests with a Comprehensive Resource Center on campus, a Hesed “super volunteer” is normally a person who volunteers eight hours or more per week in one of our programs. They become invaluable pieces to the puzzle for providing quality service delivery to our guests.
Tom’s service has even transcended the word “invaluable,” because by starting as a volunteer in our programs, he has been able to see needs first-hand, and come up with ways to develop sustainable new programs or execute one-time or yearly campaigns that empower our guests. For example, Tom began a voter registration drive at Hesed House, including educational, non-partisan discussions on the importance of voting and having everyone’s voice be heard in a democracy. Tom also created the Advocacy Volunteer Corps (AVC), which has pairs of volunteers working with guests in our daytime PADS program working with guests interested in making and achieving life goals that will aid them in their journey out of homelessness. After doing an assessment, the AVC volunteer pairs work with guests individually to accompany or guide them on their goals. The volunteers in this program work with our case management staff and do a lot of the legwork and accompaniment that needs to be done in order for guests to overcome barriers and achieve goals.
For medical resources, Tom worked with staff and a DePaul University Nursing student to create a medical options sheet for the Aurora area, specific to most of the homeless population who mostly have some form of different Medicaid carrier or no insurance. This was in an effort to help guests be informed of their options for quality medical care in our community, and to help decrease the amount of emergency room visits when a walk-in or urgent care facility may be more applicable.
Tom also has recently created, with our guests, PADS Press, a 22-page weekly publication or “zine” that gives our guests a chance to contribute their thoughts and ideas, as well as keeping us all informed about the relevant news of the day, and including some games, puzzles, riddles, etc., to help keep minds active in our PADS programs. The publication is made possible on submittals, written word and also published by guests, volunteers and staff. Tom has also run current event groups, sporting discussions, a question of the week, etc. etc.!
Volunteer of the month is sponsored by Naperville Bank & Trust, serving Naperville with three locations, 555 Fort Hill Dr., 1205 S. Naper Blvd. and 5 S. Washington in the historic downtown post office. For more info, visit www.banknaperville.com.
