Senior volunteers get honors

Eloise Moore is a fixture in the first-grade classroom at Chaffee, Mo.

At 92, Moore goes to school every day where she puts in more than five hours working with the students.

Moore is in her 27th year as a volunteer in the Retired Senior Volunteering Program of Cape Girardeau and Scott counties.

"I love it," said Moore who was among more than 250 volunteers honored at the annual RSVP recognition program Wednesday at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau.

"When I was first asked to help out at the school, I didn't want to," Moore said. "Now I don't ever want to quit."

"She's great," said Karen Bradshaw, first-grade teacher who accompanied Moore to the luncheon. "I don't know what we'd do without her."

Moore, one of the first Scott County RSVP volunteers in 1973, grades papers, sorts and staples them, prepares them for students to take home and helps decorate the classroom walls.

"The students have another grandmother," said Bradshaw. "She is here every day."

Moore, a 1929 graduate of Chaffee High School, retired from the Chaffee Shoe Factory in 1971.

Amazing group

"This is an amazing group," Denise Stewart, director of Otahki Girls Scouts, told the 267 volunteers at the recognition program. "I salute you."

Stewart is familiar with volunteers.

"We have more than 1,000 adult volunteers in our program," she said, "and since Sept. 11, we have had opportunity to discover volunteerism at its best."

Since the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, volunteers have cropped up all over the world, she said, and "no rewards" can repay "volunteerism."

Stewart said that of "100 ways to have a good life," 47 of them were related to volunteering.

There are 578 RSVP volunteers throughout the Scott and Cape county areas, said Tina McDowell, administrator of RSVP Volunteers. "During the past year, they performed more than 80,000 hours of services."

Senior volunteers play a major role in providing benefits to communities, she said.

"This recognition luncheon is a highlight event," said McDowell.

Also honored were a number of sponsors for the program, including major sponsors Cape County Rotary Club and Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.

One of the volunteers at the banquet was Kenneth Wood, a retired accountant who has volunteered at the Cape Girardeau Police Department since December 1997.

Warren and Jewel Harbor of Sikeston, Mo., have used their free time in a number of areas. The Harbors help out with the Scott County Transit Program and the Sikeston Food Bank.

Warren Harbor, a retired mail carrier, also helps out at the police station.

Jewel Harbor, a retired school teacher, is a volunteer in tutoring and helps out at the Mental Health Center and Visiting Nurses Association.