For The Volunteers
Featured story from soldiersangels.org
February 21, 2009
Irene Brenick knows something about volunteering—from both sides of the equation, which inspired her to write this beautiful tribute to volunteers who help make this world a better place:
Today Irene is a successful author, speaker and entertainer. But years ago as a divorced woman with two children and no education, she relied on 11 different charities, uncounted volunteers, and many other generous people in her community to get off welfare and into the life she wanted. It was this experience that inspired People Like You. “I sat down one day and wrote the song as I thought about all the people who didn't give up on me and my girls,” she writes. “I thought of those that left gifts and even a tree during Christmas, or took my girls on a secret shopping trip for backpacks and shoes so their friends at school wouldn't know we had no money, or left food by our door, or babysat my girls so I could be in a program that helped single moms build up their self esteem.”
These days Irene is involved with several charities in her spare time--including Soldiers' Angels--and even her career is volunteer-related: she is Director of (650) Volunteers at the Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks, California. As she says, “I love volunteers, and now I am one!”