We have the top volunteer, again!
Romaine Nitchman to receive PANPHA award
Award presented – After this story was written, Romaine Nitchman did in fact receive her the Volunteer of the Year-Individual Award at the PANPHA Annual Conference June 25 in Hershey. Here she is shown accepting the award from PANPHA Board Chair Tama Carey.
E. Romaine Nitchman, whose working hours probably increased when she retired as a restorative nurse at Cross Keys and became “just a volunteer,” has been announced as the Volunteer of the Year-Individual for all of Pennyslvania in the 2009 PANPHA Distinguished Service Awards program.
She will be officially recognized on Thursday, June 25, during PANPHA’s Annual Conference in Hershey. PANPHA is the statewide association for non-profit retirement communities, nursing homes and other senior services.
Nitchman becomes the second volunteer from Cross Keys Village – The Brethren Home Community to win the award in three years. Ralph Royer was the 2007 recipient. The Stamp Program was an earlier winner as Volunteer of the Year-Group.
This year’s top volunteer, an LPN, worked at Cross Keys from 1972-1995. Then, as President/CEO Vernon King said, “The year she retired, she got busier.”
In her first year of retirement, Nitchman “bid” 750 hours of volunteer time and “won” the Volunteer Quilt at the Chicken BBQ Auction. That quilt goes to the high bidder only after those hours have been worked.
She has won the quilt three times since then and is working off her most recent successful bid this year.
As a volunteer, she is a leader in the annual Chicken BBQ, the various sandwich and bake sales, and other Auxiliary projects. She is most often seen, however, escorting residents to their therapy appointments, a reflection of her long interest is restoration. She also has served on the executive committee of the Faith Community.
“You may think she calls this her home,” said Volunteer Services Coordinator Corinne Peterson, “because she spends more time serving here than she is actually at her home in New Oxford.”
Campus Pastor Merv Wunderluch noted that Nitchman, “provides a calming and caring presence to any resident that might be anxious for any reason.”
“Her involvement now spans 37 years,” King said, “and she shows no sign of slowing down. I hope she doesn’t, because it would take more than one paid position to replace her, and I’m not sure the job candidate exists who would match this volunteer in the spirit of Christian servanthood.”
Romaine Nitchman, center, is shown with President/CEO Vernon L. King, left, and Volunteer Services Coordinator Corinne Peterson after being informed of her selection for PANPHA’s 2009 Volunteer of the Year-Individual Award.
Nitchman shows Cross Keys resident Jean Gitt an item in the Almost New Shop.
The Auxiliar Bake Sales at Cross Keys would not be the same without Romaine Nitchman’s involvement. Here she is at a sale table with fellow volunteer fixture Ruth Millhimes.
