Jackie Bell was voted "Best Angel" for her longtime volunteer work for Evergreen Animal Protection League. Pictured right with her dog, Domino.

Angels: December Theme

1st Place Winner

Jackie Bell
Evergreen Animal Protective League

Only five votes separated the top three winners in the “angels” category. The top prize goes to longtime Evergreen Animal Protective League volunteer Jackie Bell.

The Evergreen Animal Protective League was organized in 1981 to aid lost, abandoned and suffering animals through rescue, shelter and education. The league has provided a better life for over 8,000 cats and dogs. It is totally volunteer, which is why Jackie Bell and the other volunteers are so important and so appreciated.

Jackie is the president of EAPL and helps at every level, keeping her on the phone late into the evenings. Asked how she can do so much, she said, “I ask myself that about 9 o’clock every night.”

But she continued, “It is so rewarding. So many wonderful people help who have the same burning interest in saving animals. Plus, at EAPL, volunteers have a sense of humor. It’s a lot of work—but it’s fun. And we have the support of the community and the vets in town. Yes, it can be depressing at times. There is such a great need. In these tight economic times we have people who ask us to take their animals because they no longer can afford them or they need us to supply feed. But mostly it is rewarding, so wonderful to help the animals.”

Jackie is the conduit of information at EAPL. “I hear about everything that comes in; everything comes to me at the end of the day so I can coordinate the help. But it’s not me, it’s all the volunteers who are the angels.”

2nd Place Winner

Mount Evans Hospice
& Home Health Care

Mount Evans Hospice and Home Health Care, a nonprofit organization, was founded in 1980 in Evergreen to deliver professional, compassionate in-home medical care to mountain area residents who are recuperating from an injury, living with a chronic illness or facing end-of-life issues.

Its highly trained, caring staff also helps families by providing counseling services, support and education. It also offers palliative care, outpatient therapy, grief counseling, and support and help for caregivers.

The Mount Evans team of volunteer is an integral part of the organization. Volunteers donate thousands of hours each year to ensure the agency’s continued success. Both short- and long-term commitments are available in a variety of areas including, but not limited to, providing transportation to medical appointments, respite for caregivers, bereavement support for families, handy-person tasks, clerical help and fund raising.

There are opportunities to visit patients, provide massage therapy or help in the office. Creative people are needed to make the annual holiday angels, a fund-raiser for the nonprofit.

Camp Comfort “buddies” are needed for the weekend camp for children who are grieving.

To volunteer, visit the Mount Evans website to see what opportunities are available; then fill out a contact form or call the office.

3rd Place Winner

Mountain Resource Center

MRC’s “neighbors helping neighbors” mission  is to provide community based health and human services to people living in Conifer, Evergreen, Bailey and surrounding mountain communities.

Local volunteers, businesses, organizations, government agencies and foundations partner together, helping residents build sustainable lives.

Emergency help and referrals for needed food, clothing, utilities, employment, healthcare and housing is available.

There is a health clinic for uninsured and publicly insured young people ages 0 to 20, CHP+/Medicare enrollment, vision care, dental care nutrition and health education.

Domestic violence intervention, youth services, parent/child classes are available. There is a workforce center, life skills classes and the mountain community veterans coalition.

To help raise money for MRC and to help people find quality affordable clothes and household items, there is the MRC Thrift and Gift Store in the former Safeway center in Conifer.

Volunteers are essential to Mountain Resource Center. They supplement positions for which funds are limited or not available, and they act as a conduit between the community and the center. They bring in new ideas, vitality, consumers, education and more volunteers.

Share your time and talents today with the community by volunteering your time.

Click for website  Book signing at Mountain Book Saturday, March 20, 2-5pm Aspen Park Village Center 303-838-4096