Volunteer Melody Montero honored for her work with Sloan House shelter
BY BOB NORBERG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Melody Montero likes to think of herself as the "chief angel" for Sloan House, organizing 45 other angels to provide for the needs of the residents of the emergency women's shelter.
"I can do something to help somebody, giving that break in life that if it was me, that is what I would want," said Montero, who is on the board of the Community Action Program, which runs the shelter.
From shampoo and eggs to living room furniture, Montero will procure it through a network of donors, the 45 Sloan Angels, that she has created.
For her work, Montero received the Outstanding Board Member Volunteer Award from the Volunteer Center of Sonoma County at its Oct. 6 awards ceremony.
"It is terribly important to have that kind of commitment from a board member," said Eunice Valentine, executive director of the Volunteer Center. "That kind of investment and enthusiasm, you can see how it grew in her and the importance for the emergency women's shelter. That is how, as board members and leaders, you get others engaged."
Montero, 58, is a Petaluma native, Windsor resident and a Realtor for Coldwell Banker.
She has been involved with Sloan House for seven years, including the construction of the new shelter four years ago.
The Santa Rosa shelter provides a home for 22 homeless women and children, a place where they can stay for six months while they get their lives together and move into more permanent housing.
It serves women who may have just lost a husband and support, those who are jobless and those who may have had substance abuse problems.
"Fifty percent of the women are over the age of 50, which is amazing," Montero said. "It is wonderful we have Sloan. It is a clean, safe place with a lot of my Sloan Angels looking after them, and they are very, very appreciative of what we do for them."
Montero's job is to find whatever the Sloan House and its residents need, using a network of donors that she has built over the years.
"Everybody wants to help; caring comes from the heart and everyone wants to give from the heart," Montero said.
She was instrumental in finding the furniture for the new shelter, which has a living room, dining room, kitchen and 10 bedrooms, and she often will find furniture for the residents as they move into their own permanent housing.
Montero also gets calls from the Sloan House staff for the residents' daily needs. Shampoo and eggs were among the most recent.
"I punched my e-mail list and within one hour I get an e-mail letter from a woman who brings me bags of shampoo and conditioner, and I had eight other women also offer," Montero said.
"One woman gave me $10. I bought five dozen eggs for $9.99 and took it to the shelter."
Valentine said such work would not get done otherwise, and volunteers are more important than ever because of threatened cuts in state support for women's shelters.
On Wednesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reversed a July order and signed a stopgap bill to restore financing to women's shelters. But it may only be a one-year reprieve.
"Women's shelters are at risk now. . . Without this kind of volunteer engagement and commitment, the emergency shelters could go away," Valentine said.
You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bnorberg@pressdemocrat.com.
