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VanDerBrink retires from work connecting local generosity with local needs

Lead Summary
By
Lori Sorenson

"As one person, I cannot change the world, but I can change the world for one person.”
Greta VanDerBrink said this quote by Paul Shane Spear captures the essence of her work matching volunteers with people who need help.
“This has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made,” said VanDerBrink, about her retirement Dec. 31. “It’s all about the people; I’ll miss them.”
Since she took the reins as Rock County RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) coordinator 13 years ago, the program has grown to be the largest and most successful in the seven-county southwest Minnesota area.
VanDerBrink manages an army of 520 volunteers who assist with 67 different agencies who need help. In 2014 alone, she coordinated 64,196 volunteer hours.
“I don’t think the program would be where it is today without Greta,” said Michelle Baumhoefner, director of the agency that oversees the southwest Minnesota offices.
VanDerBrink hesitates to take credit for those successes.
“We just have such good people in Rock County,” she explains. “They care about each other and they take care of each other.”
She admits other RSVP coordinators have asked her advice on how to bring their successes in line with Rock County’s.
“It’s all about the personal connections,” VanDerBrink said. “But it helps that our roots here go so deep; so many people know your grandpa and grandma … your heritage is here.”
As such, VanDerBrink said, this has made her job easier to connect with people who know people who are able to help people who know people who need help.
The positive outcomes are moments VanDerBrink lives for. “They don’t realize how much joy I’ve gotten out of it,” she said about her accolades.
“We’re serving others, and for me, this work has been a mission — serving God by serving others.”
She points to Jesus’ sermon in which he said, “Do unto these the least of my children, and you do unto me.” (Matthew 5 in the Bible)
“Just today, we got the toys delivered for the Angel Tree requests,” VanDerBrink said. “It’s just so fun to know we’re making someone’s Christmas brighter.”
VanDerBrink took over as RSVP coordinator after Ruth Pickett retired from her 25-year position.
Today the office is known as ACE — Advocate, Connect, Educate, but the job description hasn’t changed from the day Pickett started in 1976 — “to match willing volunteers with local organizations that needed volunteers.”
Pickett had said she was happy to leave before she had to learn computers, but VanDerBrink said electronic messaging has been helpful in summoning large groups of volunteers in a short amount of time.
Still, the personal connections are necessary to seal the deal. “I can put out an APB, but lots of times I’ll end up calling people who say, ‘Yeah I saw that and I was thinking about helping …’”
Volunteer Judy Ripley credits VanDerBrink for her own active lifestyle, despite having multiple sclerosis. “If you’re not moving you start to feel sorry for yourself,” said Ripley, who’s retired from a 28-year child care career.
“She’s kind of got a knack about her — she knows people and she knows what they enjoy doing,” said Ripley, who volunteers at Senior Dining taking meal tickets and answering the phone.
“It’s not a hard job, and I can do it sitting down. … It’s just a good time to get out and about, and I can meet new people and see people I know.”
When her MS made it difficult to walk across the parking lot at school, she told VanDerBrink she’d have to give up her volunteer job greeting elementary students in the morning at breakfast.
Instead of accepting Ripley’s resignation, VanDerBrink suggested the Heartland Express bus service that delivers riders from door to door. And the ACE office has a fund for bus tickets to transport volunteers.
“People don’t refuse her; she’s just too good,” Ripley said about VanDerBrink.
“And I so enjoy the kids. It’s such a treat for me to go there and get my ‘kid fix.’”
When VanDerBrink started in 2001, she had just wrapped up a 21-year career at Mary Jane Brown Good Samaritan Center where she worked in the activities department.
“I guess I’ve worked with old people all my life — and now I’m one of them,” she laughed.
“You learn through the years from these people — it’s incredible. Life is short; you learn to celebrate life while you can.”
She said that’s also been her motto since her son, Mike, died from cancer 10 years ago. “He taught us how to live, and he taught us how to die,” she said. “He told me he wasn’t afraid of dying, because a brand new body was waiting for him in heaven.”
Greta said she looks forward to retirement (her job was a 30-hour-per week commitment) and spending some quality time with her husband, Richard, and their grandchildren.
She said she’s confident in her replacement, Norma Brands, who has already started training. “She’s got a compassionate heart, and it starts there,” VanDerBrink said.
When asked about the most important lesson she’s learned from her career, she said, “Volunteer — even if it’s only one hour a week. You won’t regret it.”

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