Sharon Foltz: Community Service Recognition
Raised in rural Ohio, Sharon Burrier Foltz started volunteering with her parents and grandparents at an early age: school, church, helping neighbors. Volunteering with developmentally disabled children in high school led to teaching, then becoming volunteer administrator for Ohio Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and serving on the Greater Columbus United Way, her first of hundreds of boards and committees. The early 70’s saw the formalization of Volunteer Programs, and Sharon was Ohio’s first State Volunteer Director in 1977. Moving to Arizona in 1981, Sharon immediately continued volunteering as a child advocate for PAG, on nonprofit boards, in TUSD schools and usually with one or both of her daughters in tow. Both Rachel and Robin continue volunteer leadership in their communities in Michigan and Virginia.
Becoming United Way of Southern Arizona’s Volunteer Director in 1990, Sharon tapped into her 70’s policy work of deinstitutionalizing people because of their disabilities, and led the UWSA Multicultural Leadership Development Program to train and promote volunteer leaders for nonprofit boards. In 1993 Tucson Electric Power tapped Sharon to create their Community Relations (CAT) department – a joyous composition of supporting employee volunteerism with corporate contributions and resources to serve the communities where we work and live. Thanks to the invaluable partnership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 1116, TEP continually cooked up successful volunteer projects ( on average 35 projects a month) across thousands of organizations. Winning numerous national awards, TEP set a high bar of volunteer accomplishment and teamwork for 2 decades. Employees and their families on their own time. And throughout Sharon volunteered thousands of hours on boards, committees and projects.
Sharon continues her six+ decades of volunteering through Alliance of Therapy Dogs with her adorable bulldog Winston. They are at 3 libraries a month for Read to A Dog, and Sharon is District 3 appointee to the Pima County Library Advisory Board.
“My volunteer experiences are priceless in what I have learned and experienced. From Nature Conservancy Arizona to Points of Light Corporate Volunteerism, so many smart people making amazing progress on issues that affect our planet today and for the future. Enabling and encouraging people to take leadership roles on issues they care about continues to be critically important for our Planet’s wellbeing.”
She hopes SAVMA will continue to inspire and promote volunteerism. Volunteers make life BETTER.
Community Service Recognitions
The annual SAVMA Awards include Community Service Recognitions, like the one Sharon received. These recognitions and awards are part of a more significant strategic effort to draw attention to volunteers’ essential work and to the profession of volunteer engagement.
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