Volunteer Profile: Janice Ortega

When Janice moved to Denver, she wanted to find a place to volunteer. She heard a public radio feature on Florence Crittenton Services, and was immediately impressed. “I was very excited about possibly helping the babies while the young mothers were attending classes,” she says. Janice had worked in health care with hospice organizations for many years. This was a chance to experience a complete switch by working with and caring for the very young instead of the elderly.

Janice has consistently volunteered in our Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC) for three days a week for the past three years—700 hours of service! Her extraordinary commitment of time each week is just one of the factors that makes her an outstanding volunteer. Over the years, Janice has built meaningful relationships with the ECEC teachers who know her to be patient and kind with the babies and their moms. The teen moms have also built a connection with Janice. They have grown to trust her with their children, and know that she will shower them with extra love and attention. In addition to her meaningful impact as a volunteer, Janice has donated items to the classrooms. Thanks to Janice’s dedication of time and resources, teen moms and their children at Florence Crittenton Services are able to receive a quality education and the developmental and social skills necessary to succeed in life.

 

So, why had Janice continued to volunteer for three years here? “I receive so much more than I give at FloCrit,” she says. “I enjoy playing with the babies, and interacting with some of the mothers.” She loves watching the babies change and grow, and enjoys interacting with the ECEC teachers, whose hard work and dedication she admires. She feels that as a FloCrit volunteer, she not only makes the teachers’ workloads a little easier, but she gets to give an impactful, positive and distinct learning experience to very young minds. She gets to hold, feed, rock, and play with babies, and spread around a lot of love, and for Janice, there’s nothing better than that.