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Member Spotlight: Lenora Zino

Name: Lenora Zino

Position: Community Relations/Volunteer Coordinator

Organization: Mid-Minnesota Women's Center, Inc. MAVA Member Since: Personally 2019 Organization 2003?

Please describe your volunteer program: Mid-Minnesota Women's Center relies on our volunteers to do many things between our two programs. We have our Domestic Violence Shelter where we have volunteers who do many different tasks from providing transportation, receptionist, mailings, gathering silent auction items, putting up flyers, support group child care, cleaning projects, yard work, court support, resumes, and many more tasks. At our child safety center volunteers do cleaning projects, painting projects, yard work and any other projects that may come up. Our volunteers have a very important role within our organization regardless of what task it may be.

What is your role? My role as Volunteer Coordinator within the organization is to make sure we have volunteers in the roles that are open, training and scheduling the volunteers. Putting together our volunteer appreciation event and most importantly making sure our volunteers are appreciated and feel confident in their role!

How did you get involved in Volunteer Management? I was an advocate for the Domestic Violence Shelter and knew the value of all of our volunteers regardless of their roles and assigned tasks. When the postion became vacant I was encouraged and had the support of my family and coworkers to apply. Those who know me know I am a people person, a go getter and constantly on the move. I enjoy meeting new people and hearing their stories. I believe that there is space for everyone.

What does it mean to you to be a MAVA member? Being a MAVA member means that I can be the voice for the volunteers as well as get to learn and get new ideas from others to make sure that our volunteers are getting taken care of and that I am doing the best practices for our program. I am proud of our volunteers and want to do the best of my ability for our volunteers and program.

Can you recall a time when being a MAVA member directly impacted your work in your organization? What were the outcomes of MAVA’s impact? Being involved with the Volunteerism Bill at the Capitol. This day was a great success for our organization and community! I was able to bring a group of volunteers from our organization and make our voices heard. We got to talk with different representatives and voice our concerns. We all got made an impact that day! That day wouldn't have been possible without MAVA.

Do you have any advice for new MAVA members/leaders of volunteers? Get involved with your community as much as possible, volunteer get your hands "dirty" with the people who volunteer in your community. Make sure to let others know their valued! Get your volunteers involved in things that they can attend such as the capitol and events. Nominate your volunteers for the work that they do with civic groups that spot light community volunteers. We can't do this work without the helping hands of our volunteers!