Pair up passion with incredible drive, and you'll have Mary Williston.  Mary, a HandsOn West Central Ohio volunteer serving through the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, began volunteering with HandsOn in September 2009.  Since that time she has become an integral part of our program and a number of other community-wide service initiatives.  She not only volunteers her own time, but she consistently looks for ways that other members of our community might be able to make a difference.  She is passionate about helping children and has a career that demonstrates that passion, a career supplemented by a variety of volunteer activities that have taken her contributions to making sure children are cared for to an entirely new level.

Mary is a fantastic event planner, and she isn’t afraid to jump in and get things done herself.  In January 2011, Mary assisted as co-chair for the second annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Day food drive sponsored by HandsOn that collected more than 4,800 pounds of food for four local food pantries and soup kitchens.  Not only did she volunteer a great deal of her own time, but she used that time to encourage others to volunteer by reaching out to friends and neighbors to assist with the project, calling other volunteers to help, and conducting a number of radio interviews on behalf of the project.  Her efforts led to the project more than doubling its first year collection numbers, and she has introduced a number of valuable partners to HandsOn through her involvement with this project.  She also served as the primary coordinator of the collection and sorting for Logan County, although her efforts actually impacted residents of Darke, Logan, Miami and Shelby Counties. 

Mary serves as an advisory council member for HandsOn as well, and most recently she began working with a national nonprofit organization known as the Pajama Program.  She hopes to bring expand the program from Eastern Ohio to serve residents of Logan County, specifically children in foster care and those receiving services from other local organizations. Her passion is helping children, especially those coming from tough circumstances.  We truly believe that, with Mary's help, these kids stand a better chance of succeeding in their future endeavors.

Mary is incredibly professional and caring in all that she does, and she is a remarkable change agent in her community!  She lives our mantra "Be the Change!" each and every day, and she would represent RSVP nationally very well.