Services hosted its annual volunteer appreciation event to honor those who contributed 25 or more hours over the past year.

This year’s theme, “Grateful for You,” reflected our heartfelt appreciation for volunteers who generously share their time and talents with our department.

The day was filled with fun and camaraderie, including a light lunch, lively bingo games and an educational beekeeping class by Speckman Honey.

In 2023, a total of 831 volunteers served 26,160 hours. AHS has six different volunteer opportunities:

• Catch-a-Ride: providing essential transportation to older adults and other vulnerable individuals.
• Home-Delivered Meals: delivering meals to home - bound seniors during lunchtime.
• Food pantry: stocking shelves and preparing food pantry bags for clients.
• Office administration: handling data entry, filing and other tasks.
• SHICK (Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansas): providing free, confidential counseling on Medicare, Medicare Supplement Insurance, Long- Term Care and other health insurance topics.
• Special Delivery: transporting or collecting food pantry donations.

AHS is unique because several former staff members have transitioned into retired volunteers for the department. Gayla Noel, who served as an EOS for the AAA, retired in the spring of 2021. In the summer of 2022, she expressed interest in volunteering. When asked why she chose to return to her former department, Gayla shared, “When I worked for Aging and Human Services, it was very fulfilling providing services to people in my own community. After retiring, I wanted to continue to be of service to others. Johnson County Government has so many amazing staff and programs. I feel fortunate to continue to be involved with this organization.”

To learn more about volunteering, please visit jocogov.org/AHSvolunteers or call 913-715-8859.