Do You Know?
By TOM SHORTELL
Colleen Volpe sits in her corner cubicle, directing her business.
Business is good; shes in a beautiful new facility, and last fall she brought in three full-time staff members, all with masters degrees.
Clients are waiting in the lounge, and dedicated people are working in the kitchen.
Volpe is the Board of Directors president, and people who work with her describe her as dedicated and compassionate.
Not bad for a retiree.
Volpe, a volunteer, coordinates The Center, an Asbury Park volunteer organization that serves the HIV/AIDS community.
Fifteen years ago, Volpe attended an Information Night coordinated by Father Bob Kaeding on the epidemic. Kaeding is now the director of The Center.
She had heard of AIDS in New York and San Francisco, but she wasnt aware of the implications. What she learned opened her eyes. After attending three more workshops on AIDS/HIV, she became a founding member of The Centers board of directors.
Ive grown up with The Center, said the 70-year-old retiree. She said that as The Center has expanded its services, so has her understanding of those infected and affected by HIV/AIDES, as Kaeding puts it.
The Center has expanded quite a bit, too.
There are between 500 and 600 people on the database, 30 to 50 a day people receive hot lunches and 61 people volunteer their time for various duties.
Volpe interviews every volunteer so they can be best matched to a job. Her job these days isnt so different from her former professional job in Staff Development and Training for the Monmouth County Division of Social Services.
Im doing what I know how to do with different twist, Volpe said.
Volpe knows a thing or two about volunteering. Shes been volunteering since her days at Central Catholic High School in Allentown, Penn. She served as her schools representative to the Junior Red Cross. Shes earned a respect for the generosity of spirit of those who volunteer, as a result, she said.
That generosity of spirit is rampant at The Center.
The volunteers are the heart of The Center, Volpe said.
Theres a man who collects food as a personal mission. Food is delivered to 10 people who are too ill to leave their homes. Every Tuesday, theres a double shift of volunteers as one group works in the kitchen and another group organizes hygiene bags.
Volpe coordinates all of it.
When Volpe, a wife of 49 years and a mother of four grown children, isnt working her 26-hour work week, she enjoys reading and knitting. It serves as a getaway from her people-heavy day job. Her favorite authors include Jody Picoult, Robert Parker and Jonathan Kellerman. Shes reading Heavy Words Thrown Lightly by Chris Roberts, a book that explores the political meaning behind nursery rhymes.
I like Janet Evanovich, Volpe said of the Janet Plum author. She makes me laugh.
As much as Volpe may enjoy her books though, shes got more work coming with The Center. Im not done yet, she said with a smile.
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