Heather Downs for volunteer of year

Letters to the Editor

 

Last updated 12/18/2013 at 10:20am



I would like to nominate Heather Downs for the Volunteer of the Year award.

Heather has her hands in many different organizations and has been helpful to many different people in many different ways throughout this last year.

Heather runs the local pageant program for girls and boys from the ages of 0 to 18. This youth activity program runs all year long and helps teach these kids that their shape and style is okay (without makeup) and not to be ashamed of it no matter what the media says. In this program she is also helping these young girls and boys become proper young ladies and graceful young gentlemen and helps them to achieve their goals. This program also goes out into the community and volunteers to help others and does fundraisers.

Heather also is a big part of the Horse Rescue program that started this year. She helps take in horses that have been physically and/or mentally abused and gives them good homes so that they can learn to trust again. She has partnered up with the school district to have troubled kids and those that have learning disabilities be able to come to the horse rescue and be a part of it so that they can help each other heal and build a relationship with these amazing animals. I have seen Heather and her husband, Eli, travel hours to get a horse pen using their own vehicles and their own gas so that a horse that needed rescued immediately had a home of its own. Heather goes to the horse rescue each and every day to feed, water and brush these horses so that they are taken care of no matter the weather conditions or events that may happen day to day.

Heather also has had a big influence in the new roller derby team called the Grand Coulee Derby Dames that also started this last year. Heather has been so helpful in this nonprofit organization with her knowledge of the business end of what is required and needed to be maintained for the Derby Dames to keep their nonprofit title. Heather comes to each practice ready to push all the other girls to work and better themselves. She leaves her everyday life and the things that come with it at the door and is ready to practice and be a part of the team each and every day.

Heather also is one of the founding parents for the newest group in the area called Parents for Change. This group is for parents of children in the local school district to be able to come together and communicate regarding issues that are happening in the schools that they feel are not being handled properly. In this group Heather has been at the forefront to get parents to be more involved in the schools and has been encouraging parents to volunteer to help fix the issues and work with school officials. She has already helped by conducting a meeting for the parents to come together and has already gotten so many more parents involved in the schools and their children's education in less then a month of this group being started.

Heather also does personal volunteering such as posting on the local facebook feeds about an abandoned dog (Maggie May) that needed a home. She found a foster home, which ended up not working out but was not disheartened and gave Maggie May a home until she found a permanent foster home that would work with Maggie May and give her the love and understanding she needed. Heather still does check ups on Maggie May and makes sure she is doing okay in this new family.

What many people do not know is that Heather has a lot of people who call her personal phone and are very upset about many different issues, in which Heather mediates these things on a personal basis and figures out a solution, such as the instance with Maggie May. Something else that many people do not know is that Heather had a life threatening medical condition happen this year that caused her to be rushed into surgery and fight for her life. She did not slow down nor pass off her volunteer responsibilities to others while she was healing. She has such a love and passion for the things that she volunteers with that she could not just let her responsibilities go. Another thing many people do not know is that Heather has four children, two of whom are not in school. That means that she takes them with her everywhere she goes, which means that they are as involved as she is within the community.

On a personal note, Heather has helped me and my family a lot these last couple of months. When Heather learnt that I had lost my job she was at my doorstep ringing my door bell with food in her hands asking if there was anything else I needed help with. She has been a great shoulder to lean on and has helped my family very much, especially when I came to her freaking out about my bills and such. She helped me and my family so much by advising me of where to look for help and for work.

A simple thank you is not enough to show the gratitude of my family and for the positive changes that Heather has had an impact on in this community. For these reasons I believe that Heather should receive the award of Volunteer of Year.

Randi Hagen

 

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