RECOGNITION BANQUET Dedicated volunteers to be honored for work

One of the honorees continues his volunteer efforts despite being treated for cancer.
BOARDMAN -- The Volunteer Services Agency third annual All-Community Volunteer Recognition program will be at 5:30 p.m. April 24 at Antone's Banquet Center, 8578 Market St.
The honorees are Patti Jo Bodnar, Hope House Visitation Center; Robert M. Brienik, Youngstown Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic; Art DePaola, long-term care ombudsman program; Joyce Piper Lesko, Hospice of the Valley; Joseph Sofranec, Second Harvest Food Bank; and Touched By Nathan Foundation and Touched By Nathan volunteers.
VSA is the Mahoning Valley's resource for volunteer recruitment, placement, management and professional development. Its headquarters are at 5500 Market St., Suite 106.
Patti Jo Bodnar
Bodnar is from Austintown, and she has been a volunteer with Hope House, West Earle Avenue, Youngstown, for four years. Hope House volunteers help monitor court-ordered visits between parents and children, watch children in between exchanges, and help clean rooms between visits.
Bodnar has been instrumental in determining visitation rights for a nonresidential parent on more than one occasion. She also has bought gifts for the children at Christmas and has involved her friends and family to assist Hope House.
Robert M. Brienik
Brienik, of Youngstown, has served as director of volunteers at the VA outpatient clinic on Belmont Avenue for the past 13 years. Between the Youngstown clinic and the Brecksville Medical Center, he has amassed more than 20,000 hours in the services of veterans affairs.
In addition to scheduling and recruiting volunteers, Brienik keeps track of the volunteer hours in Youngstown, Lorain, Warren and East Liverpool veterans clinics as well as the Western Reserve Cemetery.
He is responsible for interviewing, placement and administration of nearly 300 volunteers, who provide support for the staff at the clinic and camaraderie for the patients.
He has received the 1997 Veteran of the Year Award from the United Veterans Council of Youngstown; the Legion of Honor Award of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains in 2002; as well as the Marine Corps League Distinguished Award.
Art DePaola
DePaola, of Boardman, is a volunteer at the long-term-care ombudsman program at Omni Nursing Home and Omni West Assisted Living. He had been an advocate for residents who are often at risk for abuse and neglect and also a participant in the ongoing battle at the homes to hire and maintain staff.
For the past 10 years, DePaola has been spending time with the residents and has taken it upon himself to address not only the uncomplicated complaints, but also to resolve complicated matters regarding care plans for residents.
He trains all new volunteers at the nursing home and assisted living facility and mentors them.
Joyce Piper Lesko
Piper Lesko, of Boardman, serves as a companion volunteer in the hospice program to provide friendship and a caring presence for terminally ill patients. She often goes beyond the weekly visit standard of once per week, and she will often visit her patients three or more times a week. In 2005, she logged 1,318 visitation hours.
Through work with Hospice of the Valley's Video Legacy Program, Piper Lesko was able to bring one patient out of her shell from the point where she would barely whisper answers to questions to sitting up in bed and sharing in-depth stories about her life to pass on to her sons.
Piper Lesko has been instrumental in improving efficiencies in the hospice office by helping to redesign forms, and finding new areas of volunteerism to increase volunteer hours. She also has taken an active role in assisting with volunteer training.
Joseph Sofranec
Sofranec, of Poland, started volunteering more than 10 years ago after retiring from LTV Steel. In that time, he has done everything at Second Harvest Food Bank on Salt Springs Road from correcting electrical problems to fixing time clocks to building ramps and doors or installing blinds at the agency.
He helps maintain the food bank's vehicles so food can be picked up and delivered to various agencies.
He also has found time to start Poland Interfaith Pantry, a consortium of four churches in the Poland community that provides hundreds of pounds of food each month to families needing assistance.
Sofranec was diagnosed with cancer two years ago, but he has not lost his desire to help those less fortunate. Even undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, he continues to spend his time at the food bank.
Touched By Nathan Foundation
The Touched By Nathan Foundation was established after Ken and Vicki Pavalko of Struthers suffered the loss of their son Nathan. Born small and genetically incomplete, his life did not last much more than 40 days.
It was established to provide support for those parents who suffer through the birth of a baby who has died or is fragile. TBNF has helped families with the financial burdens of a child's funeral, or by providing a cradle for the funeral visitation.
For families with babies in the special-care nursery, TBNF has met the needs of parents by providing things like gas cards for the drives back and forth from the hospital, phone cards, food vouchers and journals for parents to write down their thoughts.
Recently travel expenses were provided to a mother so she could go and see her other children, who had moved with their father after the newest sibling was born early and could not travel.
TBNF volunteers assemble memory boxes for grieving parents. There are journals that are handmade, as well as photo albums and a special box in which to keep blankets and clothing. The volunteers are available to the family to provide fellowship and comfort.
They also provide parents a special place to talk freely about the loss of their baby and to heal. The volunteers also send cards to the parents on special days to show that they have not been forgotten.