Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society
Volunteer Voice of Relief
MAY 2011
2,4,6,8, Who Do We Appreciate
Here at NMCRS we care
deeply about our volun-
teers. When we get an op-
portunity to show them how
much we appreciate them
and all they do, we take
advantage. Throughout our
volunteer week we handed
out appreciation bags, gave
a complimentary apprecia-
tion breakfast and lunch,
held a volunteer luncheon,
and bonded on a swamp
cruise. The bags were cre-
ated by our Hospitality,
Sharice Godfrey, along with
help from Zanita Hooper
and the directors adorable
daughter, Sadie Delvin.
The volunteers we’re
treated to a light breakfast
and a delicious sub tray for
Note from the Director
Welcome to the first edition
of Volunteer Voice of Re-
lief!
In the last few months,
NOLA NMCRS has seen a
great deal of change and
growth! Let me begin by
welcoming four of our new-
est members; Mr. Steven
Daub, Ms. Vanessa Reece,
Mrs. Erika Godfrey, and
Ms. Sharice Godfrey. Ste-
ven has graciously stepped
up to the Thrift Shop Chair-
man position, Vanessa took
over as the Thrift Shop
Shift Chairman, Sharice
took over our the Hospital-
ity spot, and last (but cer-
tainly not least) Erika is our
new Chairman of Volun-
teers! Please take a mo-
ment and say hello!
February saw the Thrift
Store and its volunteers
moving and settling into the
old uniform shop in build-
ing 300; I want to person-
ally thank Rosa, Jenn, Sadie
lunch. A luncheon was held
to congratulate many of our
volunteers on their signifi-
cant milestones and to
enjoy a great lunch catered
by Stonewalls. To wrap up
all the festivities we had a
swamp tour at Jean La-
fitte’s where many volun-
teers showed up with their
families and we enjoyed the
exotic wild life of the
bayou . Many memories
were made and we here at
NMCRS would like to say
thank you to all of our vol-
unteers. You all are irre-
placeable and are responsi-
ble for the many successes
we have here. Hats off to
you. ¤
and Devin for their hard
work and selfless efforts!
The new shop is spacious
and looks fantastic.
In April we celebrated Na-
tional Volunteer week with
good food, good friends and
a good time! Erika and
Sharice coordinated our Vol-
unteer luncheon, in which we
took a moment to thank our
NMCR Thrift Store, Case-
work, and the Active Duty
Fund Drive volunteers for
their ongoing service. This
was also an opportunity to
recognize some milestones
for our dedicated volunteers:
Mrs. Levina Epps 400 h rs
Mrs. Debbie Custer 500 hrs
Mrs. Jennifer Luscher 600 hrs
Mr. Jonathan Waters 4000 hrs
April also gave us the oppor-
tunity to get together off-
sight and have some fun as a
Bayou Cruising Note from the COV
Nothing says “N’awlins”
quite like gators, bayous, and
Cajun accents. Put them all
together and you get a won-
derful morning on the beauti-
ful canals of Lafitte, LA!
We were guided by the col-
orful Captain Joe around all
sorts of bends and turn
through a complex canal
bayou system. We saw a
variety of turtles, long-
legged birds, and quite a few
gators, although we didn't
see any of the monster sized
gators, the quantity definitely
made up for that. The tour
was very delightful and had a
great comic entertainment,
thanks to Capt. Joe. Thanks
to all of our volunteers and
family members who came
out for a great time of much
needed rest and relaxation. ¤
group! This year we boarded
a boat and braved the
swamps of N’Awlins during
a Swamp Tour down in La-
fitte, LA!!
May is here already and it is
turning out to be a busy
month! Don’t forget the base
will be hosting the 2011
N’Awlins Air Show on May
6 -7, 2011; it should be an
amazing event!! Our Area
Trainer, Mrs. Nanci Pruter
will be here 09 – 14 May
2011. Nanci will be holding
training for all our volun-
teers, the schedule will be
put out on the 9th. There are
many other happenings so
check out the calendar!
Thank you again for all you
do and bring to the Society!
Our volunteers are the keys
to the success of the New
Orleans office, BRAVO
ZULU! -Jennifer Devlin ¤
By: Sharice Godfrey, Hospitality
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1
First let me introduce myself
to you. My name is Erika
Godfrey, from Mobile, Ala-
bama. My husband is regular
navy, so this is our first time
on a reservist base and should
be a learning experience. I
have four wonderful children,
Sharice, James Jr., Aaliyah,
and Cayden. I would like to
say thank you to all of the
volunteers for all of your hard
work and dedication. As you
all know last month we hon-
ored our volunteers. Breakfast
and lunch were given every-
day all week and then we had
our annual luncheon to for-
mally recognize a few spe-
cific volunteers. We, again,
want to thank our Thrift Shop
volunteers for the great job
they are doing and to our case-
workers/CSAs, thank you for
the time you put in. Our ser-
vice members appreciate the
fact that you are there when
they need our help. The fact
that you are volunteers really
shows them that you care
about them. Keep up the good
work guys. –Erika Godfrey ¤
A Great Cause
Every year NMCRS holds an
Active Duty Fund Drive along
with service members to raise
money. These generous con-
tributions are used to help
NMCRS aid Sailors, Marines,
and their families in their
times of need. This year we
surpassed our earnings last
year and that’s something we
all can appreciate. We here at
NMCRS would like to give
special thanks to ET1 Bailey
for conducting the naval par-
ticipation and to SSgt Web for
his part and organizing the
marines. Thank you so much
for all your help and your time
and we really appreciate it. ¤
 Volunteer Voice of Relief
May 2011
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
NMCRS Thrift Shop NMCRS Thrift Shop NMCRS Thrift
0800-1600 0900-1400 0800-1600 0900-1400 0800-1600 Shop
N‟awlins Air 0900-1400
Show N‟awlins Air
Military Only Show

8 9 10 11 12 13 14
N‟awlins NMCRS Thrift Shop NMCRS Thrift Shop NMCRS
Air Show 0900-1400 0900-1400
0800-1600 0800-1600 0800-1600

15 16 17 18 19 20 21
NMCRS Thrift Shop NMCRS Thrift Shop NMCRS
0800-1600 0900-1400 0800-1600 0900-1400 0800-1600

22 23 24 25 26 27 28
NMCRS Thrift Shop NMCRS Thrift Shop Office closing
0900-1400 0900-1400 at 1200
0800-1600 0800-1600

29 30 31
Memorial Day Thrift Shop
Office closed 0900-1400

“Volunteering is an act VOLUNTEER SPOT- Did you know…

of heroism on a grand
scale. And it matters
profoundly. It does
more than help people
beat the odds; it
changes the odds.” -
Bill Clinton
Show the Love...
“The reason I love vol-
unteering is because I
get to help out the
community and meet in-
teresting people” -
Levenia „Sadie‟ Epps
LIGHT
Rosa Sylvestre
Thrift Store
Mrs. Rosa has been gra-
ciously volunteering for
NMCRS since 2005 and says
that its her “way of helping
the service.” She is a mother
of three and has six grand-
children. The success and
growth of the thrift store is
something Rosa finds a lot
of pride in. She advises that
we all should “go for what
[we] want and don't waste
time on should‟ve , would've ,
could've.” On behalf of
NMCRS, I would like to say
congratulations on a job
well done and keep up the
good work.
A study at University of
Michigan show that peo-
ple who don't volunteer
died earlier than those
who volunteer at least
once a week. Volunteer-
ing can also boost your
self-confidence, self-
respect, and give you a
sense of accomplishment.
NMCRS Volunteers are
men and women, military
and civilian, retired and
active duty, officers and
enlisted, and their fami-
lies. Maybe even YOU!!!