Local Family Lends a Hand
Marla Urey has been volunteering at Bell for several years. She learned about Bell from working in an intermediate unit, and when she found out her boys needed to complete a certain number of community service hours for school, she connected with outreach coordinator Janel Fox to see what they could do. Ever since then, Marla and her kids have been helping Bell out whenever they find the time. “I know they appreciate the help, and Janel has been delightful to work with over the years, so this is where we do the bulk of our volunteer work,” she says.
Owen, Carson, and Marla hard at work organizing one of Bell Family Shelter’s storage rooms.
This past Thursday, Marla and two of her sons, Carson and Owen, stopped by Bell Family Shelter to organize the donations piling up in its storage rooms. Clothes, toothpaste, hand warmers, and all manner of other amenities and household items piled up on the shelves before the Ureys moved them into sorted bins and boxes. Thanks to their efforts, these donations will be more readily accessible to the families at the shelter.
Carson is going into eighth grade and is volunteering at Bell for the first time this year, and Owen is graduating next year and has been helping Bell for about three years. Owen and his other brother, Nicholas, have helped out at a number of Bell facilities in the past, such as by cleaning up at the Family Shelter, organizing and unloading shipments at our warehouse, and making arts and crafts for the Sendero program. Owen explains his motivation for volunteering at Bell as “helping Bell as an organization, but more so helping the people who rely on Bell.”
“It’s just good to help,” Marla adds. “I have the time to help, I know it’s important to help, and we enjoy doing it.”
We extend our heartfelt thanks to the Ureys for donating their time to us, and we eagerly look forward to their next visit!