 This is Bill Doyle on Vermont Issues and two special guests is Wanda Brill who won a recent award and we'll be talking about volunteers and Selfie Kirsten who's known for the penetrating questions Let's start off with Wanda and talk about the why why did you what does the word that you received talk about the award that you received? one night and This voice on the phone said You know I'm so-and-so and I have some news for you and I said oh really because I thought it might be Somebody who's wanting to sell me something. You know, that's usually the call you get but you're so gracious when people is yes You treat people so well. I said well, what is it and This voice said well, I'm here to tell you that you've been awarded the citizen of the year by the Montpelier Rotary Club and I said you're kidding and He said no, I'm not kidding. I said are you sure you're not kidding? I said I don't even belong to Rotary So I don't know why I won an award. You're a citizen of Montpelier and very well-known, but go ahead so so he talked to me about it and He said well, we'll get back to you later, but he said we will be having a lunch for you at the hotel and I'll tell you more about that later on. I said, okay So I hung up the phone and I'm sitting there going Did I really? Hear this is this real or is somebody picking on me? and so I went to sleep and The next day I came to work and I didn't say anything to anybody because I'm thinking Well, maybe this isn't a real thing so About five days later, I said to my my manager and I work at United Way That this had happened and she said really oh That's exciting and I said do you think it's real and she said yeah, I think it's real so Then I got small phone calls about okay. You need to be down at the hotel And this is what I'll tell you talking about the one in Montpelier Yeah, Frederick Sheriff's Hotel and so I Went and here were all of these people that I had never I've seen But it's been years since I saw some of them some of them are you were just High school boys when I knew them and here they are all grown up So I'm going around talking to everybody and they had a wonderful lunch My daughter was invited and she came Which I didn't know whether she was coming or not and So it was just a fine fine affair and they presented me with a plaque and The reasons why I was chosen let's go into those reasons The plaque is still being worked on so I don't have it with me but it was all the different things that they had gotten information from about Things I had done in the community I'll talk about them a little bit later and any questions at this day Sophie Well, I'm I'm right with you. I want to know what the plaque says So and and it's it's a big plaque, you know like this and The fellow has got it framing it. That's what he's doing. So One I can tell you that I'm very active in the Red Cross and I Am on the disaster action team Which means that? if my phone rings at one o'clock in the morning and Somebody says we need you there's a fire How quick can you get here and? Usually there's at least two of us from the Red Cross that go together Because they don't like one person going on its own So that could last for maybe four or five hours You're working with the firefighters. You're you know doing what they want you to do Like can you help somebody out of the house? Somebody's in the ambulance and their blood pressure is going down. We might need you Later to sit with them or something so And you have to be trained. You can't just go do it So I had been trained to set up a shelter if we needed Remember when we had the hurricane? Everything We needed a lot of help well I opened a shelter at the Berlin elementary school because that can be used as a shelter Yeah, and there's a lot of things you have to do to do that You can't just open the door and say come on in you have to take information You have to fill out forms you have to make sure that nobody's sick that everybody's okay and I didn't know for sure exactly how long they would be there Yeah, that was a big question and you have to Feed them and so there's a lot of things involved in something like this to do this and our Red Cross members Basically are In the Washington County area We do go outside that area if they need us but the Red Cross folks Down in the southern part of Vermont and also in Burlington will tell us those things so We can figure out where we're supposed to be and what we're supposed to do Then I'm also on the the town of Berlin Emergency management team, which is a different team. We meet once a month and we talk about things that in Berlin Are we ready for an emergency? Do we know what the fire department is doing? hopefully Their new chief is going to be meeting with us every month, which will Be good for communication But what you never know when these things come along so I've learned a lot that way and then We've just started a new program in central Vermont, which has to do with rescuing animals and We're just beginning to get that started so it's Interesting but we haven't learned everything we need to we have to take tests that the state has and If we don't pass the test then we have to take it again So it's a it's a complex but a very rewarding kind of volunteerism Which I never thought about when I first started in doing volunteer work I was working a national life, and I think my boss said wanted they need somebody to Go down to the state and be on a board Which is true, and I said well why me and he said because I think he'd be good so off I went and It was a it was a a board that was talking about education and What we needed to do and how we needed to do it, and I didn't know everybody on the board. I felt like I was kind of What do I say? Kind of thing new kid on the block. Yeah, and so that's when it started and I have probably worked at national life for maybe I don't know 15 years or so when they asked me to do this they also asked me if I would like to Work for United Way as a volunteer Because two or three other people at national life were doing the same thing. So I said, oh, yeah, that might be interesting so I went and got acquainted with them and There were several people on the board and at some point along the way I There I was asked to be on the board of directors So that was part of my learning about United Way. What do you do? How do you do it? You know, I know they raised money, but I didn't really have a lot of Information about it. Can you give us a small snippet? Maybe of what they do and what your part of it is when I When I yes, when we raise money we go out to the general public and We work in the three northern counties Caledonia Essex and it's one other one up there in that corner and then Washington County and part of Orange County so we go to a a business and we do a sales pitch Honestly and Ask them if they would like to help their community by giving money So that's how it started Basically, and then that money goes to teaching fiscal responsibility is that money goes to part of it to People who need money for whatever I mean, we don't just give it away Without having it have an impact like it could be on children It could be on homeless people. It could be but it has to go to a Non-profit organization that's working with these people we don't actually go in and Work with the people unless we're asked to help right the managers or whoever is Is dealing with the people what a wonderful resource? so it is and I may be able to get in a little bit later to how much we've grown this past year or or two so then I'm also involved what's called the local Emergency planning committee and we meet every other month and our job is to make sure that for instance, Washington County Is ready for any kind of an emergency that comes along and we have to put that in writing as by-laws Mm-hmm, and we're just redoing them now and the people that serve on that committee might be your police Person Might be the fire department It might be somebody from Burlington who is doing a program up there and can help us So it people can just come and be at the meeting and ask questions And say here's a problem. We're having in Plainfield What do you people think? You know the the river runs over constantly One person died because we think she fell in the river And so you get a cross-section of what towns are doing and the help they need We do get some money from the state to help us with some of the things that we want to do and That is just getting together talking to each other Trying to help solve problems and making sure that we're capable For instance of an airplane crashes at the airport in Berlin Can we get up there and help them? Is the hospital ready to take them in? Yeah So you've got a wide variety of things that go on in Maybe a day or a month or a week You know, I could go out on calls every night of the week if those calls came into us Through the Red Cross. It just it's just you never know So you have to kind of be ready Like we have vests that we wear we have pictures of ourselves and Badges that we have to wear Order that people know who we are and that we can be there a good example would have been when the Truck went off the road in middle sex and caught on fire. Yes. Yeah, that's where Sophie limbs I drive by that every day We were called out at about midnight to go and and help now help in this case was not To try to get them out of the vehicle But to serve hot coffee Something to eat for the people that were working there So again, that's a whole different type of thing that we do exactly Sometimes some of our people go to the hospital to be with the family To say We'll be here for you. Is there anything we can do for you? So that's another realm that we look at But this local emergency planning group is the one that meets every other Every other month and we try to figure out are we capable If a plane crashes at the airport of helping and do we know enough to do that so it's It's Constantly doing things and learning We the state brings in people from out of the state To do a day seminar for us Let's say and this one that I went to happen to be How do you know what to do if the train goes off the track? and That just happened in Canada big big one, right and and so how do you handle that? It was like the one a little bit over in Northfield that slipped off the track maybe a couple of years ago or last year. Yeah Like okay, how do we know? Where the fire is gonna go if there is a fire based on the wind And they'll teach you how to tell which way the wind is blowing But you start at eight and you end at five thirty and by that time You're you've got books and manuals and all kinds of stuff Back to school basically as a volunteer well, so if you and I congratulate you for your volunteerism Truly and and why is involuntary so important in our society well right now the United Way is working up in the Northeast Kingdom and We're finding that it's so important because we're volunteering up there I mean I am I don't work up there but if somebody came that was a volunteer they could go up there and and help people To pay their bills to do things some of these people don't don't know how to set up a budget Yeah, it'll come to us and say I don't know how to pay my bills. Yep, literally so that's one thing that United Way does with its volunteers now two weeks ago We had volunteers for one of the local businesses and our staff went up to a place here in Montpelier and Took their garden all apart. We did it. We sent all the plants and it's a an Organization a nonprofit who keep people that need help, you know because they're by themselves or Or something like that and they sat on the porch and watched us do all this work in the garden So that's another thing that we do as volunteers and the company that Sent their volunteers was paying them like they were working right there in the company But they were helping these people to know that they don't have to look at weeds now They can look at flowers and and it's very very nice. Thank you. Go ahead Go ahead That volunteerism do you talk about its impact on my life also because When I was 16 and the world war was in Progress the shortage of men and women and so the fire department asked where I'll be a and others my age If I would be a volunteer for him and so So so that that's how it in fact got me started my life and And whether men many other advantages. Yeah, I'll continue your story We that that brings up a good point is that we still do have volunteer firefighters And we do have volunteer police who are in training maybe to do something So that still exists. It just doesn't get maybe talked about as much so the United Way is is building on that and and Encouraging people like the gardening we did to do things in the community as volunteers and It's beginning to catch on and spread. So it's a mention gardening Pardon. Did you mention garden? Yeah, well the garden that we were waiting okay, and So we do things like that Waiting is an essential part of gardening with our source of information itself. Yeah We're we're gonna do a big project over in Northfield Falls shortly a Gardening one. No, okay. They're building a playground for the kids That's great, and that was done with a promise money that came to us from the federal government and different places in like Barry could apply and they got some money and Several like Northfield applied and they got some money and it came from the federal government But they had to take that money and use it to better their community Doesn't matter How did they use the money to better the community? Well, the one I'm doing we're doing in Northfield right now that I know more about is because They are going to build the playground for the children There's going to be one near the library right in Northfield in the back part and I don't I can't remember what it's going to consist of but it's like a big a big House built in the tree, you know, the kids can go there and just play And the other one is going to be in in the fall to Northfield Falls, which is you know in a different place so That That's another thing that we can do So that's given me an opportunity to feel good about what I'm doing It's expanded my knowledge of all of these things I've learned and so That's why I really like to volunteer Well at this point do you have any questions you'd like to have Sophie? Well, I just am so excited to get to speak with you about all these things because it really You know following Bill around a little bit in his volunteer projects and meeting You guys both being citizens of the year actually for Montpelier at one point or another guy And the impact that his works and you know the groups that you have worked with The impact that they've had in central Vermont are huge. Yes And I remember like when Irene happened there were a lot of misplaced people And there was a lot of damage that people needed help with and without volunteers Things could have been really bad. Exactly really dangerous sickness, you know mayhem the whole thing And so I'm so grateful to you guys Because well it's growing too. Yeah more people realize that volunteering is not being punished It's being oh my goodness. Look at all the things we can do for our community And the wonderful people you get to meet and work with exactly that part You mentioned the community the community benefits from the volunteerism because they don't have the funds in many cases to do What they'd like to do exactly. Yeah Yeah Both self and I want to know where you went to high school. Oh, that's right. I I went to Williamstown high school. Oh She's a local bell and there were well I grew up on a farm And just down the road. So I went to to Williamstown high school And we had 25 people in our class. Wow. That was the biggest class the school had ever had What I said about now much more many more than that. Yeah, because they well they've actually merged with Northfield. Oh, okay. And that's been part of the recent publicity. Yes and indicate that's a major step that Williamstown made but also Williamstown has gotten a lot of publicity on the kinds of program they had. Yes, and you must you Got to be proud of what what the school has done and what they're doing Yes, they are and and it's hard to change a school So it takes time and effort and along with other kinds of volunteer things that you do It may not happen right away but the feeling that you get when it's done is A nice reward makes you feel good And I don't go around talking to people about what I'm doing as a volunteer necessarily Unless someone has to speak Yeah She's got to show up at one in the morning. I mean who knew important for the job is to show up Oh, jeez So it's very interesting and that's why I've stayed with it all this time. Yeah How many years would you guess have you been volunteering? Well, I started when I was still at national life and I'm guessing probably A good 40 or 50 years. I've been volunteering from day one when I was still working at national life To where I'm at now and I've grown and matured and And and it's just natural for me like like the Red Cross we go and put it in smoked structures Right To people's houses. That's huge. I'm unbelievable. Yeah, and people need it and and you meet 95 year old people that are as spry as We are right. You made an incredible case from volunteerism on this program already Yes, and if anybody is interested they can come and and call united way or Go to their local church Or anywhere to fire department. Yes, you go to the local fire department and say I'd like to volunteer You can because uh, they'll train you Is it there's a training that goes with that? Oh, I'm sure yeah We're near the end of their program, but isn't anything you'd like to say before we we end the program I appreciate being able to be on the program and to talk about volunteerism and to encourage people to volunteer to help and you don't have to Choose one thing or anything else They can guide you to Whatever you want to do. So so anything else you'd like to say? I'd just like to thank both of you for the immense amount of care that you've given to this community And I think that you know if anybody wants to have a fulfilled life. They should follow in your footsteps And I appreciate your efforts. Well, thank you. It's been a pleasure Is a pleasure That's right What you brought up Wanted uh, uh, it's a it's a very reason that you were chosen. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Well, I Yes, you're right Definitely, I think they're exceptional projects and I don't know see you have to be you have to be Kind of uh Somebody has to nominate you and I don't know who that was Today any final word before we close our program I think we've said it about all don't you anything you'd like to ask answer or comment All right, it's just a huge honor and pleasure to be in your guys's company and to get to hear of your adventures It's a pleasure. I applaud you. Thank you Well, you're welcome and I joined Sophie in the in her thoughts And again, thank you very much for being on the program and your credit to your community Thank you very much. I appreciate your thoughts and comments This is bill bill Doyle and and Sophie christen. Thank you for being on the program. You're quite welcome