Featured Volunteer - Soul of El Sol
CONGRATULATIONS KATHLEEN WADDELL – recipient of the Town of Palm Beach United Way 2022 Nettie Finkle Award for outstanding volunteer service.
Kathleen joined El Sol in May of 2016. She was a retired Army veteran who had professional experience running Army kitchens. It so happened that we were working on a grant to apply for a kitchen renovation and we were unsure how to approach it. Kathleen jumped in, helped us design and cost out the new kitchen appliances, and helped us write the proposal for the new kitchen renovation. We were awarded the grant. As the new appliances started coming in and demolition was needed for the kitchen update, Kathleen helped every step of the way.
Our kitchen provides meals to 40-60 clients who are waiting for day labor work. Through the supervision of our Kitchen Coordinator, volunteer groups help cook and serve meals. After El Sol’s Food and Nutrition Coordinator left in November 2021, Kathleen and her team of volunteers kept our kitchen operations humming along until a new Kitchen Coordinator, Brasilia Rodriquez, came on board in February 2022.
“I was afraid our hot meal and lunch program was going to have to shut down during the time we were looking for a new Food and Nutrition Coordinator. However, our amazing team of kitchen volunteers headed up by the one-and-only Kathleen Waddell took over and we did not even miss a day!” said Executive Director Suzanne Cordero. “Kathleen took over scheduling, ordering, coordinating, and everything related to the kitchen. We are all so grateful for the extra effort put in by this incredible group who made sure our clients had something to eat when they arrived in the morning and a lunch to take to work. We would not be El Sol without our volunteers!”
Thank you to our kitchen volunteers: Jocelyn Bergeron, Carolyn Christmas, Terrie Clements, Barbara Corcoran, Jan Grichor, Christine Griffith, Kathleen Moore, Michele Shorts, Gail Tomanelli, Kathleen Waddell, Lynda Walker, Bob Winterton, and many more not listed.
Learn more about the Nettie Finkle Award at: https://www.palmbeachunitedway.org/nettie-finkle-award