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 Style for Life
Volunteering is in fashion, too
By Lisa Schaffner
Give me a stage, a microphone and a camera to capture the event, and it’s a great day. Add the latest fashions and a catwalk, and I’m in heaven. That’s what’s coming our way in April with the third annual Style for Life, and you can help make it happen.
Style for Life is hosted by the National Kidney Foundation and features very special models this year: All either have received a lifesaving organ transplant or been a donor for a transplant.
“We want our models to feel like they are special, like they are walking the catwalk,” says Laura Boone, regional project manager for special events with the National Kidney Foundation. Boone is searching for volunteers to help find the models, prep them and style them. It’s all in a day’s work as a volunteer.
Kidney foundation volunteers assist with three major events each year: the Style for Life, as well as the Cadillac Golf Classic in June and the Kidney Walk in November. As Boone explains it, the staff alone can’t handle something so large. “Volunteers are crucial to the success of our event. Their skills and talents help us to better serve our patients and their families.”
Boone has been on the job less than a year, but she tells me she finds kidney foundation volunteers the most dedicated she’s seen. “Volunteering with NKF is very important to them, near and dear to their heart. This is the way they can give back. NKF has helped their family members through research and patient services … and they feel this is something they can do to give back. They are very passionate.”
The third annual Style for Life to benefit the National Kidney Foundation is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 30 at a site to be finalized. Interested volunteers are asked to contact Boone at
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or 804-288-8342.
You’ll see me there. I’ll have a microphone in hand, describing the latest fashions. I promise we’ll have tons of fun together.
PASSION FOR TROOPS
Passionate is also the best way to describe volunteers at the new USO Welcome Center at Richmond International Airport. In fact, one of those passionate volunteers — Boomer reader Donna Robbins — contacted me to sing the praises of her new volunteer opportunity: “It is the most rewarding thing I have done thus far in my life. The honor of giving food, drink and a few kind words to the men and women that serve our country is beyond any measure that I know.”
Donna, I couldn’t say it any better. So, let’s just get right down to the nuts and bolts of how some of you out there can give back and get involved!
The USO Welcome Center at Richmond International opened in July to serve members of the armed forces and their families. The center, open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., is near the airport’s baggage claim area. Volunteers talk to military personnel and provide information about the Richmond area.
“A lot of visitors come through and have no idea about Richmond. So it’s very helpful our volunteers know the community,” says Kyle Corbus, communications and marketing coordinator with the USO of Hampton Roads and Central Virginia. “A lot of our volunteers are retirees or a spouse is in the military and they want to give back. Every volunteer is unique. It boils down to a story, and what connects them to the USO.”
Fort Lee soldiers coming through Richmond are the main focus of the airport USO center. Because of the huge growth at Fort Lee near Petersburg, Corbus says, a second area USO center recently opened at the military base and also needs volunteers. “Our goal is to take away the stress of being in the military and say thank you for what you do. We are so appreciative.”
In addition to working at the USO centers, volunteers are needed for special events the USO of Hampton Roads and Central Virginia organizes. Interested? Visit usocentralva.org. On the left side of the page, click on “volunteer application.”
Lisa Schaffner, a former WRIC-TV anchor, is public relations and marketing director for UNOS. Contact her at
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