RSVP, VIC honor volunteers at annual event

The Retired Senior Volunteer Program and the Volunteer Intergenerational Center held their 2008 annual recognition event Wednesday during National Volunteer Week. At the event, several volunteers from area not-for-profit agencies were honored.

RSVP and VIC, both services of the Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging, recruit volunteers to help expand services in more than 120 not-for-profit agencies. The agencies connect volunteers and resources to try to create positive change in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties.

RSVP charter member Eloise Moore, who will turn 99 years old this year, still volunteers with RSVP. She is the last remaining volunteer from 1973, when the service began, and was recognized at the event.

"She does telephone reassurance," said executive director Tina Dohogne. "She checks in on people to see if they're all right and since she knows what's going on in the community and reads the paper, Eloise can help them find the help they need."

VIC volunteer Cliff Barlow, who was also in attendance at the recognition event, remembered Moore from his time at Chaffee Elementary School, where she volunteered for many years.

Known as "Grandma Eloise," Moore had her own desk in the back of the room where she helped children who were having difficulty.

Barlow's request to get some help from Moore with reading surprised his first-grade teacher, Sue Duncan, because he was a straight-A student. A note from the teacher was sent home to his mother, Dohogne, questioning why he thought he needed help.

When Dohogne asked her son why he thought he needed help, the first grader's reply was, "I don't, Mommy. I just wanted to sit back there with Grandma Eloise and see what it was like."

For more information or to become a volunteer, contact RSVP/VIC at 335-7555, 887-3664 or 471-8584.