Volunteer Spotlight: Kelly Wernke
“10/10 Highly recommend,” said Kelly Wernke, reflecting on her volunteer experience at Hand in Hand.
Kelly began volunteering with our People with Purpose program in June and has been spending Fridays from 9 AM to 2 PM with the group ever since. She first heard about Hand in Hand through a Speech Language Pathologist friend, who suggested she get involved. Motivated to gain more experience working with non-speakers, Kelly hoped volunteering would give her a better understanding of their needs and those of their families; insight she could carry into her future practice.
Currently a partner in an executive recruiting firm, Kelly is also pursuing certification as a Spelling to Communicate (S2C) Practitioner.
“My passion for helping non, minimal, and unreliable speakers find a reliable means of communication through spelling, has led me down the path of becoming an S2C Practitioner. I’ll be graduating next year and am planning a private practice here in the Quad Cities.”
For Kelly, her favorite part about volunteering is making connections with people.
“It’s getting the opportunity to see Jack and Sasha’s super-competitive spirits come out in a head-to-head round of air hockey, learning the most fascinating facts about astronomy, the moon and planets from John, singing a little Earth, Wind and Fire or doing movie quotes while walking around the track with Jake… It’s literally just getting to sit and connect with people and be witness to what makes them each so beautiful and unique that’s my favorite. Really connecting with each person is what makes my heart happy.”
Volunteering has become the highlight of her week.
“The day I volunteer is my favorite day of the week,” she said. In addition to volunteering at Hand in Hand, she is also active in her faith community and helps with things at her church in addition to holding a few service positions for another organization where she can help others.
Kelly said that although she’s always considered herself an inclusive person, volunteering with People with Purpose has shed more light on the issues the disability population faces.
“… it has made me much more aware of the unaddressed needs of this population and their families and how many unintentional gaps there are in some of our societal systems that really do love and want to support them,” she said.
Kelly encourages others to get involved, too.
“Do it! Just give Hand in Hand a call and get signed up! You’re going to be so happy that you did.
Once you’ve gotten set up, I recommend volunteering on a regular basis and at regular intervals, if your schedule allows it, though it’s not necessary. (i.e. volunteering every Tuesday & Thursday, every other Friday, or just the first Monday of every month, etc.) That predictability in your volunteering schedule would help both you and those you’re spending time with, get into a rhythm and build a relationship more quickly.
If you or someone you know is retiring but is still has too much energy to be completely retired, this would be a great opportunity to be of service a couple of times each week – you could come rock the babies, color and have fun with the children, or hang with me and the adults!”
If you’d like to learn more about volunteering, visit our volunteer page.