Polson mayor honors volunteers
Berl Tiskus
Duane Luetke, director of Western Montana Area VI Agency on Aging; Heather Knutson, mayor of Polson; Polson City Commissioners Todd Erickson, Jill Southerland and Ken Siler; and Sherlee Santorno, RSVP volunteer coordinator celebrate Polson’s Day of National Service Recognition.
Berl Tiskus
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POLSON — Heather Knutson, Polson’s mayor, “walked the walk” after she proclaimed April 7 Polson’s Mayor’s Day for National Service Recognition at the Polson Senior Citizens Center; she poured coffee for the lunch crowd.
“This is a day to thank those who serve and give back to their community,” she said before reading the proclamation.
A sign on the door to the senior center says, “Volunteers don’t have money, they have heart,” Knutson said, and she agrees with that statement.
“We’re a very fortunate community to have so many volunteers,” she said.
Duane Luetke, director of the Western Montana Area VI Agency on Aging, spoke about the volunteers who work for his department and work with senior citizens.
“The focus is trying to keep people in their homes as long as possible,” Luetke said.
The agency offers transportation, meals, homemakers, home chores and respite care and has been serving the community since 1982.
Foster Grandparents is a program the Area VI Agency added for seniors who might want to work with kids in the local schools by tutoring them, reading with them or helping them get caught up in a subject.
In 2002, Area VI added RSVP, a program that recruits volunteers 55 and over and utilizes their experience by helping at local events. Sherlee Santorno heads up RSVP and has doubled the number of volunteers; she has volunteers working at local events, such as the Miracle of America Museum’s Live History Day and the local car show.
To call attention to the many folks who donate their time and experience and celebrate the Mayor’s Day of National Service Recognition, RSVP volunteers were serving cake and coffee at four locations around Lake County — Pines of Polson Assisted Living Center, St. Joseph’s Assisted Living Center, Polson Health and Rehabilitation and St. Luke Extended Care.
