Winnie has been a soup-erhero at Hospitality House for almost two decades!
She’s always around to cover our overnight volunteer needs, and spend 2+ nights a month at Hospitality House.
She reigns soup-reme when it comes to being on top of things, and always claims open shifts on the calendar before we even ask!
Winnie is so steady and soup-portive of residents and staff.
We’re so thankful for you, Winnie! You’re simply pho-nomenal!
This year, we would like to thank, recognize and honor, Barb
Campbell as Hospitality House’s Volunteer of the year. Each year, we carefully
and thoughtfully assess a long list of incredible candidates that have
positively impacted Hospitality House with their time, talents, and service.
While there were many amazing nominees to choose from – Barb Campbell’s long
standing history of advocacy and investment in Hospitality House is what
confidently moved us to our final decision.
Des Moines United Methodist Church is one of the local churches, that have
partnered alongside 11 other churches to ensure that the Residents of
Hospitality House have access to delicious hot meals every day. Barb has served
as the meal coordinator at Des Moines United Methodist Church for over 12 years.
Not only has Barb served as the Meal Coordinator there, but anytime there were
not enough volunteers to fulfill DMUC’s meal commitments – with no hesitation,
Barb stepped up sometimes preparing an extra two or three meals, on top the
original meal she had already planned to give.
Hospitality House has been successful in coming alongside thousands of homeless
women over the years, because of people like Barb. Barb has worn many hats at
Hospitality House, supporting and championing anything that she believed would
better serve women experiencing homelessness. For example, years ago when times
were changing and society was becoming more dependent on technology and the connectedness
off the world wide web – Barb helped spearhead setting up the launching of Hospitality
House’s original website. Barb wanted to ensure that homeless women had 24 hours
a day access to information to who Hospitality House is, where we are located,
who we serve and all the services we provide. Barb has also chaired the Silent
Auction for many years procuring, cataloging, storing and setting up hundreds
of items for Hospitality House’s biggest annual fundraiser. Not to mention,
Barb actively contributed to policy review and formation, bylaw reviews and
updates – always confirming that the rules, regulations and policies of
Hospitality House stayed relevant and informed by the needs of Hospitality
House’s clients and staff.
We here at Hospitality House are in awe of Barb! We are blown away by how she
has managed to spin so many plates at Hospitality House over the years, doing
it all with style and grace – serving as anything ranging from Board of
Director’s Vice President to an Overnight Volunteer, she’s done it all. For all
of it, we are thankful!
Today we’d like to showcase our overnight staff member, Annesley!
Our overnight staff member, Annesley DeHaven, began to work at Hospitality House in April 2018 after a brief stint as a Solutions Specialist at Verizon. Annesley graduated in 2017 from Azusa Pacific University in California where she earned a BA in Philosophy.
Annesley grew up overseas in Germany, Korea, Taiwan, and England. She explains, “I think that growing up overseas provided me with a world perspective to help me see how a lack of privilege can unjustly marginalize people with few resources. The stark difference between opulence and poverty shocked me in a way that urged me to want to help those who want to help themselves, but simply do not have the funds and/or connections. This underlying motivation for justice mentally prepared me for this job because I have personal reasons to want to push through the things that can be stressful or emotionally difficult.”
Annesley feels that Hospitality House is well organized, which fosters the staff’s ability to better help the clients. It is the small things that are encouraging or uplifting to Annesley. One client, in particular, dealt with extreme chronic pain and periodically went to the ER because her health issues were so severe. In spite of her health issues, this client always made an effort to do her chores and follow house rules without complaining. Knowing how difficult this was for her, Annesley was inspired to see the amount of effort the client was expending to work toward being in a better place in the future.
Annesley’s long-term goal is to earn a PhD in Philosophy. She hopes to share her passion with others one day by teaching philosophy at the collegiate level.
Annesley, we are so happy to have you at Hospitality House and appreciate the energy you have to share with the ladies!