Dr. Larsandrew Dolan Award - 2005
When Betty began volunteering at Norwood Crossing, Calvin Coolidge was in the White House and motion pictures had just begun to talk. The year was 1927, and 11-year old Betty was assigned by her parents, William and Martha Berg as a “go Fer” at the 30th Annual Picnic.
Betty’s parents, immigrants from Norway, gravitated to Norwood Crossing and the Norwegian traditions it holds so dear. For Betty, our not-for-profit organization was like a second home as it was for her future husband Frank, a fellow volunteer. They were married for 47 years and resided in the Edison Park community. Following Frank’s passing in 1990, Betty adopted Norwood Crossing as her first home.
Days begin early - each morning she sorts and delivers mail to the residents always with a smile. Four days a week, she volunteers at the Foundation’s resale shop, a popular destination for residents, their families, our employees and community neighbors. She digs through the bags of donated items taking great pride in sprucing them up to raise maximum dollars. She also uses her sewing skills to create bags with Velcro fasteners for our residents to use on their walkers and wheelchairs. The fabrics vary in color and design making each bag somewhat unique to the resident. Maintaining the library and keeping it organized and stocked with books and magazines for our residents to enjoy is a responsibility she has cheerfully taken on. And, when Christmas comes around, she helps decorate the facility for the enjoyment of everyone. The summer months will find her making plans for the residents’ craft sale at the Annual Picnic. On the day of the picnic, she can be found volunteering at the craft booth. She has never missed an Annual Picnic!
Betty is an extraordinary individual with a work ethic that would be admirable in an employee but in a volunteer is truly remarkable. She has for over seven plus decades touched the lives of countless men and women with her care and compassion and she brings a deep sense of history and a memory that is second to none. If you want to know about an individual or an event from the past Betty can often fill in the blanks.
In the 1980’s, she distinguished herself as a volunteer on our organization’s Board of Directors and for many decades, as a volunteer member and officer of our Women’s Service League. Now, as a resident of Norwood Crossing, she is an active member on the Residents’ Council and someone for all of us to emulate for the strength and determination she wakes up with and gives back to our residents, our community each and every day.
One April 23, 2005 at the Annual Gala, Betty received the Dr. Larsandrew Dolan Award in appreciation for her devoted service to Norwood Crossing. This was a special highlight in a busy month for Betty. On April 20, Betty received the Outstanding Volunteer Service Award of the Year, from Life Services Network, an organization for elder care providers in the State of Illinois. In the special ceremony held at the Grand Ballroom on Navy Pier in Chicago, Betty was introduced as someone who, “at the spry age of 89 years, is still volunteering where she started 78 years ago.”