Spruce Run-Womancare Alliance recognizes its volunteers

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer
    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Like many non-profits, the efforts of volunteers are vital to carrying out the mission of the Spruce Run-Womancare Alliance — a community-based organization working to end domestic violence that several years ago merged similar agencies in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties respectively.
    “We have 30 direct service volunteer advocates currently,” Volunteer Program Coordinator Ginger Hutchins said during the April 12-18 National Volunteer Week. “That’s not counting community folks that help us out with our events.” Some of the other Spruce Run-Womancare Alliance volunteers serve as children’s workers, members of the steering committee, are Safe Home providers, assist with the annual Race/Walk to End Domestic Abuse and more.

    Karen King and Nancy Spencer are two of the direct service volunteers who work out of the Spruce Run-Womancare Alliance Dover-Foxcroft office, with King taking her training in the spring of 2013 and Spencer hers in 1991.
    “I take calls on the hotline, calls on the hotline are people wanting someone to listen and to help find resources for them and to put a plan together,” Spencer said about some of her volunteer work.
    “We do direct service, if someone walks in off the street,” King said, such as being recommended to look into the services of the Spruce Run-Womancare Alliance. “We sit with them and try to help them figure out what they are looking for. We help to validate them and make them feel like they are not alone.”
    Spencer and King said direct service volunteers can assist with paperwork and the court process, while also providing additional resources and helping with transitional housing.
    “I do overnights on the telephone,” King said, mentioning how the Dover-Foxcroft agency office closes at 4 p.m. and the Bangor location at 5. She said how a late night call to the hotline results in contact being made to the volunteer “as we call them right back.” King said resources can be given over the phone and callers are assured “that they are not alone.”
    “Why I do it is because I am a former victim and through the help of Womancare and counseling and other things I have become my own person,” Spencer said. “To help another person have hope and confidence is why I do it. If someone comes in here sobbing and leaves smiling it makes my day.”
    “I do it because I am blessed with time,” King said, adding that she also gives back as part of her faith. “The organization is great because I love what it stands for.”
    Spencer said her work with the Spruce Run-Womancare Alliance is like a calling. “To me it’s not some organization, it’s the people,” she said.
    King recommends those interested in volunteering “take the training that’s offered and just see where it fits in their schedule.” She added, “It’s not that you need a degree, you need to want to help people. I want to make a difference, that is why I took the training.”
    “It may sound frightening to work with people in dire situations,” Spencer said. “We never make decisions for them, the decision is up to them. For me that took away a lot of fear.”
    King said those manning the hotline always have staff backup. “It is kind of like if your friend called for advice,” she said, saying they work with callers and can act like a sounding board. “You are never alone, even at 2:30 in the morning.”
    “If it is something that you believe in and is close to your heart, and you feel needs to stop, you should jump right in,” she said.
    For Spencer working with those impacted by domestic violence is a way to help “break the cycle.” She said the volunteers and staff of the Spruce Run-Womancare Alliance can help victims “feel like they are not crazy because a lot of abusers will use that.” She said she and the others want to help those served feel that they are not alone.
    Hutchins said there is always a need for volunteers, with direct service and/or on the hotline being the most needed but other types of volunteers can almost always be utilized and she said ways are being looked to expand this area of the agency. She said hotline training for Piscataquis County starts on Tuesday, April 21 from 4-7 p.m. at the 8 Mechanic Street office in Dover-Foxcroft, being held in 12 3-hour sessions.
    Hotline volunteers can work out of their own homes to provide support and individualized safety planning or in the Dover-Foxcroft and Bangor offices during the day. For more information, contact Hutchins at 564-8166 or ginger@wmncare.org.
    Hutchins said those giving of their time are critical to the Spruce Run-Womancare Alliance. “Both of our agencies were started by volunteers and volunteers are still the heart of what we do.”