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John Dooling retired from Cooper-Crouse Hinds in
January 2006, and began volunteering for Vera
House in a matter of days. “I wanted to keep
busy" John explains modestly, "and I knew it was
a worthy cause." A year and a half later, the
staff at Vera House has come to depend on his
extensive experience and leadership in a variety
of volunteer roles, and we certainly do keep him
busy!
John watches children at the shelter, helps
women apply for orders of protection in Family
Court, acts as an advocate for clients during
Integrated Domestic Violence Court appearances,
and helps staff at our administrative office.
In fact, the nature of
John's service to the agency is best described
by Volunteer Coordinator, Roxanne McMaster, as
"above and beyond....He’s been known to sit and
watch a movie with kids, help them with
homework, or rock a crying baby to sleep. He has
a knack for making all the right moves in court,
he mentors new volunteers, he managed to get
scholarships to play Pop Warner football for 2
teenage boys in the shelter - and even went to
cheer them on during practices."
Other volunteers, clients and staff warmly
describe John with words like "professional",
"flexible" and "my guardian angel".
John
says he volunteers because he likes to help
people. “I’ve been helped so much by others, I
want to give back to the community and I think
it's the right thing to do."
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