Our friend, Sadie, has been serving at New Visions for about 2 years now. But Sadie’s been volunteering in the community for a lot longer than that! In fact, she’s been volunteering at places like Jennie Edmunson Hospital and area nursing homes for more than 15 years.
Sadie has lived in Council Bluffs her entire life and has a deep love for this community that she calls home. Sadie went to high school at Abraham Lincoln High, and at the age of 18, suffered a brain aneurysm that left the right side of her body paralyzed. With the strong support of her family, she had to re-learn how to swallow, eat, talk, walk, and everything in between. But this never stopped her from getting out and serving others, in fact, volunteering is something that motivates Sadie to keep going every day.
At our Mohm’s Place meal-site, Sadie helps serve food, put food on trays, clean, and any other tasks that the kitchen team needs help with. “I like coming to serve food,” says Sadie, “I know it’s a good thing to do and that it helps people, and it makes things easier for the whole community when people help out.”
It’s clear that Sadie has overcome many barriers including not being able to drive or stand for very long, but these barriers have never stood in the way of her determination to be of help wherever she can. “Everybody has something that they have to fight through that is hard for them,” says Sadie, “Whether they weigh too much and can’t eat cookies, drink too much and can’t have alcohol, or are paralyzed and can’t use part of their body. But no matter what, you just gotta get up every day and go try to make someone’s day better.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. When you see Sadie around town, be sure to thank her for giving so selflessly of her time, and ask her about her volunteering. She’ll be happy to share, and she might just inspire you to overcome whatever you feel is holding you back so that you can get out there and make someone’s day better. Because truly, that’s what volunteering is all about!
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