Camp POSTCARD Volunteer Inspired to Return in 2012
Alissa Dirrigl doesn't hesitate when asked if she'll volunteer again this year
at Camp POSTCARD. "I've already signed up," she says.
Last year, Alissa served
as a camp leader, a co-counselor in charge of 12 girls in a cabin. “It was great
fun,” she says. “I loved participating in the activities with the campers —
swimming, kayaking, ga-ga (a form of dodgeball), arts and crafts, and even a
dance.”
Alissa, a native Mainer who joined Volunteers of America in 2010, is an Accounts Payable Accountant and Payroll Administrator for the organization and, since 2011, a volunteer at Camp POSTCARD.
“Last year’s new Fit, Fed & Fun for Life program encouraged the kids to eat healthier food,” she explains. “Every day we tried out something new on them — good stuff like pita and hummus — and the kids were pretty daring. The only thing they didn’t like was the edamame [green soybeans steamed in their pods]! To me, one of the most surprising things was that the kids at Camp really liked the couscous!” says Alissa with a laugh.
Before joining Volunteers of America, Alissa worked for a for-profit organization in Westbrook and for the YMCA in Portland. “I volunteered for Camp POSTCARD,” she says, “because I wanted the experience of working with kids from all over the state. Also, I’d worked with kids for six years at the Y camp, and I loved it.”
But would she do it all over again? “You bet,” says Alissa.