Volunteers make a difference in Grays Harbor
Story By Rick Anderson
Photos by Rick Moyer
For the past five decades, Betsy Seidel has been synonymous with volunteerism on Grays Harbor.
Since settling in Hoquiam in 1975, the retired Hoquiam and Wishkah Valley teacher has participated in dozens of community events and helped organize numerous projects for area nonprofit entities.
She knows firsthand that volunteers are behind so much of the musical, artistic, theatrical events and festivals enjoyed throughout Grays Harbor. It’s that silent army of people who enrich not just the cultural life but also tend to practical needs of the community through a vast array of organizations.
That’s why Seidel has used her considerable energy and ebullient personality to promote volunteerism at public forums, on radio programs and in newspaper columns. She organized a volunteer fair for more than 20 years and even put together a brochure listing more than 100 area nonprofits, their needs and contact information.
“Betsy is a do-er,” said Jessica Hoover, senior program officer for the Grays Harbor Community Foundation. “She just finds something that needs to be done, and she figures out a way to get it done.”
Seidel began scaling back her activities in 2023 to spend more time with her husband of 50 years, Bob Martin, who is afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease. But she is eager to pass the torch to the next generation of Grays Harbor volunteers. The need, she said, has never been greater.
“If we did not have nonprofits, Grays Harbor would not be the caring place that it is,” Seidel stressed. “There are 113 nonprofits (in the area) and they all depend largely on volunteers.”
This number doesn’t include all the area churches, many of which have food banks, clothing banks, hot meal programs or other programs and activities that address the needs of Grays Harbor.
Area nonprofits cover a wide range of activities. In addition to such well-known organizations as the Red Cross, Salvation Army and the YMCA, volunteers are sought in such diverse groups as the Aberdeen Police Volunteers in Police Services, the 7th Street Theatre and 7th Street Kids, Channel Point Village, Pacific Care Center, the Domestic Violence Center of Grays Harbor, the Driftwood Players, the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge, the Half Moon Bay Pirates/Rusty Scuppers Pirates Daze, the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, the Coastal Hawks Special Olympics program, the Stafford Creek Corrections Center and the WSU Master Gardeners.
Many museums and Friends of the Library groups are also nonprofits, as are some youth sports programs such as Hoquiam Youth Baseball and Hoquiam Youth Football.
Seidel’s passion for volunteerism began as a student at Camas High School in Southwest Washington.
“I was in a whole bunch of clubs,” she recalled. “I started in high school because I learned how wonderful and fulfilling volunteerism could be.”
Once on the Harbor, she juggled her teaching duties with volunteering for such varied organizations as the Girl Scouts, YMCA, PAWS of Grays Harbor, the Hoquiam Beautification Team and the Grays Harbor Chamber of Commerce (the forerunner to Greater Grays Harbor), among many other groups.
Asking Seidel to single out a nonprofit with a particularly acute need for volunteers is like expecting her to pinpoint a favorite student during her 47-year career in education. She emphasized that all subsist primarily due to volunteer labor.
PAWS of Grays Harbor is one organization that was rescued through volunteer efforts and donations. The Aberdeen-based animal shelter was struggling financially when Seidel partnered with Photo Lab Express to establish a “Local Pet Hall of Fame” at the now-defunct SouthShore Mall in South Aberdeen. Pet owners throughout the area donated $50 apiece to have 5-by-7- inch photos of their pets displayed on the mall’s walls.
Hoover and the Grays Harbor Community Foundation currently administer another of Seidel’s pet projects. In addition to the many scholarships for area students, the foundation awards what Hoover terms “micro-grants,” ranging from $50 to $500, to a different nonprofit each month as a means of recruiting, retaining and recognizing their volunteers. Applications are available by using the site’s community grants/nonprofit volunteer form.
Nonprofits can accommodate a variety of skills for volunteers. According to Seidel, many need clerical workers, receptionists and drivers (whose duties may include transporting senior citizens to doctor’s appointments). Animal shelters and clothing and food banks are in constant need of volunteer help.
The spreadsheet that Seidel compiled listing area nonprofits and contact information is available at the GoGraysHarbor.com website, using the community link.
Seidel understands that many potential volunteers are hesitant to offer their services, believing they lack the specific skills for the job. But nearly all nonprofits, she said, are eager to train their helpers. In addition, she said that several studies have revealed that volunteering provides benefits that go far beyond the actual work.
“It sets young people on an important path in life,” Seidel explained. “For senior citizens, volunteering is good for their physical health and mental health because you’re meeting new people. You don’t go into your twilight years being lonely.”
For all that, Seidel contends that recruiting volunteers has become a more difficult challenge in recent years.
“I believe the need has increased due to the reduction of outside funding,” she said. “And a lot of volunteers are older and can’t participate due to age-related problems.”
Time constraints are another issue.
“I would say that there are a lot of people who want to get involved. How to do it is the tricky part,” Hoover said. “We have to get more creative to get people involved and you need someone like Betsy to spread the word.”
Although finding one person to fill her organizational shoes might be difficult, Seidel noted that there is strength in numbers and she is willing to help train several individuals to divide the workload. Without new blood, she added, valuable nonprofit programs could be in jeopardy.
The Grays Harbor Volunteer Fair is one potential recent casualty. Seidel organized the annual event for 22 years, bringing together non-profits and potential volunteers in one location where the organizations could explain their needs and recruit helpers. She said as many as nearly 200 people signed up as volunteers some years.
But when Seidel cut back on her activities, the participating organizations were unable to find a successor. The fair hasn’t operated since 2023, although Seidel is hopeful it can be revived under different leadership.
Seidel hasn’t entirely eliminated her volunteer work. She assists with the Grays Harbor Parkinson’s Support Group, the Hoquiam Police Crime Watch, the Hoquiam Beautification Team and the 7th Street Theatre Association (sometimes dressing in costumes related to the movie’s theme) and will continue to put potential volunteers in touch with area nonprofits.
She is living proof of the value of volunteerism.
“My life is full and it’s really important to have a full, fulfilling life,” Seidel concluded.
Photos by Rick Moyer
For the past five decades, Betsy Seidel has been synonymous with volunteerism on Grays Harbor.
Since settling in Hoquiam in 1975, the retired Hoquiam and Wishkah Valley teacher has participated in dozens of community events and helped organize numerous projects for area nonprofit entities.
She knows firsthand that volunteers are behind so much of the musical, artistic, theatrical events and festivals enjoyed throughout Grays Harbor. It’s that silent army of people who enrich not just the cultural life but also tend to practical needs of the community through a vast array of organizations.
That’s why Seidel has used her considerable energy and ebullient personality to promote volunteerism at public forums, on radio programs and in newspaper columns. She organized a volunteer fair for more than 20 years and even put together a brochure listing more than 100 area nonprofits, their needs and contact information.
“Betsy is a do-er,” said Jessica Hoover, senior program officer for the Grays Harbor Community Foundation. “She just finds something that needs to be done, and she figures out a way to get it done.”
Seidel began scaling back her activities in 2023 to spend more time with her husband of 50 years, Bob Martin, who is afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease. But she is eager to pass the torch to the next generation of Grays Harbor volunteers. The need, she said, has never been greater.
“If we did not have nonprofits, Grays Harbor would not be the caring place that it is,” Seidel stressed. “There are 113 nonprofits (in the area) and they all depend largely on volunteers.”
This number doesn’t include all the area churches, many of which have food banks, clothing banks, hot meal programs or other programs and activities that address the needs of Grays Harbor.
Area nonprofits cover a wide range of activities. In addition to such well-known organizations as the Red Cross, Salvation Army and the YMCA, volunteers are sought in such diverse groups as the Aberdeen Police Volunteers in Police Services, the 7th Street Theatre and 7th Street Kids, Channel Point Village, Pacific Care Center, the Domestic Violence Center of Grays Harbor, the Driftwood Players, the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge, the Half Moon Bay Pirates/Rusty Scuppers Pirates Daze, the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, the Coastal Hawks Special Olympics program, the Stafford Creek Corrections Center and the WSU Master Gardeners.
Many museums and Friends of the Library groups are also nonprofits, as are some youth sports programs such as Hoquiam Youth Baseball and Hoquiam Youth Football.
Seidel’s passion for volunteerism began as a student at Camas High School in Southwest Washington.
“I was in a whole bunch of clubs,” she recalled. “I started in high school because I learned how wonderful and fulfilling volunteerism could be.”
Once on the Harbor, she juggled her teaching duties with volunteering for such varied organizations as the Girl Scouts, YMCA, PAWS of Grays Harbor, the Hoquiam Beautification Team and the Grays Harbor Chamber of Commerce (the forerunner to Greater Grays Harbor), among many other groups.
Asking Seidel to single out a nonprofit with a particularly acute need for volunteers is like expecting her to pinpoint a favorite student during her 47-year career in education. She emphasized that all subsist primarily due to volunteer labor.
PAWS of Grays Harbor is one organization that was rescued through volunteer efforts and donations. The Aberdeen-based animal shelter was struggling financially when Seidel partnered with Photo Lab Express to establish a “Local Pet Hall of Fame” at the now-defunct SouthShore Mall in South Aberdeen. Pet owners throughout the area donated $50 apiece to have 5-by-7- inch photos of their pets displayed on the mall’s walls.
Hoover and the Grays Harbor Community Foundation currently administer another of Seidel’s pet projects. In addition to the many scholarships for area students, the foundation awards what Hoover terms “micro-grants,” ranging from $50 to $500, to a different nonprofit each month as a means of recruiting, retaining and recognizing their volunteers. Applications are available by using the site’s community grants/nonprofit volunteer form.
Nonprofits can accommodate a variety of skills for volunteers. According to Seidel, many need clerical workers, receptionists and drivers (whose duties may include transporting senior citizens to doctor’s appointments). Animal shelters and clothing and food banks are in constant need of volunteer help.
The spreadsheet that Seidel compiled listing area nonprofits and contact information is available at the GoGraysHarbor.com website, using the community link.
Seidel understands that many potential volunteers are hesitant to offer their services, believing they lack the specific skills for the job. But nearly all nonprofits, she said, are eager to train their helpers. In addition, she said that several studies have revealed that volunteering provides benefits that go far beyond the actual work.
“It sets young people on an important path in life,” Seidel explained. “For senior citizens, volunteering is good for their physical health and mental health because you’re meeting new people. You don’t go into your twilight years being lonely.”
For all that, Seidel contends that recruiting volunteers has become a more difficult challenge in recent years.
“I believe the need has increased due to the reduction of outside funding,” she said. “And a lot of volunteers are older and can’t participate due to age-related problems.”
Time constraints are another issue.
“I would say that there are a lot of people who want to get involved. How to do it is the tricky part,” Hoover said. “We have to get more creative to get people involved and you need someone like Betsy to spread the word.”
Although finding one person to fill her organizational shoes might be difficult, Seidel noted that there is strength in numbers and she is willing to help train several individuals to divide the workload. Without new blood, she added, valuable nonprofit programs could be in jeopardy.
The Grays Harbor Volunteer Fair is one potential recent casualty. Seidel organized the annual event for 22 years, bringing together non-profits and potential volunteers in one location where the organizations could explain their needs and recruit helpers. She said as many as nearly 200 people signed up as volunteers some years.
But when Seidel cut back on her activities, the participating organizations were unable to find a successor. The fair hasn’t operated since 2023, although Seidel is hopeful it can be revived under different leadership.
Seidel hasn’t entirely eliminated her volunteer work. She assists with the Grays Harbor Parkinson’s Support Group, the Hoquiam Police Crime Watch, the Hoquiam Beautification Team and the 7th Street Theatre Association (sometimes dressing in costumes related to the movie’s theme) and will continue to put potential volunteers in touch with area nonprofits.
She is living proof of the value of volunteerism.
“My life is full and it’s really important to have a full, fulfilling life,” Seidel concluded.
