Volunteer of the Year, 2019

Each year, we receive several worthy nominations for Volunteer of the Year. Our staff very much takes to heart all nominations and we truly reflect on who we believe shined brightest. 

At this past weekend’s Holiday Potluck and Family Gathering, we were honored to award the 2019 Volunteer of the Year to Greta Bins.

This is an especially special award because Greta started out attending Camp Encourage as a peer model then after a few years, flourished into a remarkable volunteer. As you can see from this nomination from the parent of one of Greta’s campers, Greta is an asset and a treasure to our nonprofit. 

“From our initial phone conversation to the moment (my son) and I met Greta at camp, I knew in my heart she was going to take great care of him and she did. I could tell my son instantly liked Greta as did I. Her calm manner, enthusiasm, her answers to my many questions immediately put me at ease.

You can tell Greta has good energy! I felt very comfortable leaving my son at camp and when I came to pick him up he leaned into her as if saying…I wish I could stay longer. 🙂 It warmed my heart! Greta stayed with us throughout the slide show and talked to us for a bit afterwards. I cried when I hugged her goodbye because I was so grateful she took such great care of my son. He may not say a lot of words but he definitely senses peoples energy and his body language says more than words. We want to honor Greta because of the peace of mind she provided me and the love our son felt at camp. We feel she is truly special!”

One of her fellow volunteers also expressed, “Greta Bins was fabulous! She built such a wonderful relationship with her camper and became his personal jungle gym. She could recognize his needs and knew exactly how to communicate with him. “

Greta, we hope you know how many lives you’ve positively impacted through Camp Encourage and hope you know just how valuable your volunteerism is. MUCH DESERVED CONGRATULATIONS!