Young, veteran WIC volunteer finds joy in helping others
If you look at the resume of Veronica Rodrigues, you would undoubtedly be
impressed that the volunteer has dedicated so much of her time to Citizens
for Citizens Women, Infants and Children Program in Taunton for the past six
years.
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| Young, veteran WIC volunteer finds joy in helping others |
The year 2001 was designated as the International Year of the Volunteer and the long-time community-minded individual is quite special among the ranks of dedicated volunteers. In reading her impressive resume, what immediately catches your eye is that Veronica is only 11.
Veronica was first introduced to WIC when her mom became a client and the
child instantly found the WIC programs "very interesting."
At five years old, Veronica would entertain at some of the WIC programs. At age 7, her interest quickly turned to involvement and Veronica blossomed under the wings of Isabelle Ferrier and Karen Swass, WIC director.
Isabelle, Veronica said, is like her second mom and looks after her as soon as she arrives at the WIC office. And Veronica is there often, almost every day after school and during school vacation.
Ms. Ferrier took the young volunteer under her wing right away and watched with amazement the progress and positive attitude of the young volunteer.
According to Ms. Ferrier, "Veronica is like our very own child, we look out for her and we take pride in how she is able to take on responsibilities that children her age would not possibly undertake."
Because Veronica could speak Portuguese, the young volunteer was soon engaged in an important role as a translator whenever there was a need. She demonstrated at an early age that she had filing skills and was put to the task at which she excelled. She, like most youngsters, quickly learned the skills of operating a computer and she would look up appointments or type them in.
For Veronica, who entered the sixth grade in September, the excitement of volunteerism isn't understood by her peers. Veronica has attempted to recruit her schoolmates and friends without much success at this point. She feels once she is in high school, the recruiting effort will finally succeed. Veronica plans to work on getting her friends to be active volunteers in the WIC program.
She feels that she has a big advantage over other kids because "I learn something new every day and my friends are missing out."
She loves helping people and her plans include college and a career in social service. She is a good student with mostly A's and B's on her report cards. As Veronica conducted fingerprinting of children during the WIC Celebration of Parenthood Day, she put her arm around Jeremy Deossa, 6, who was clinging to her.
The young boy also wore a volunteer tag and Veronica had become, quite naturally, Jeremy's mentor.
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