Wanda Mills Named RecognizeGood Legend
Wanda Mills, 76, volunteered with the Capital Area Food Bank for the last 12 years, serving over 3,000 volunteer hours.
RecognizeGood presented the 53rd RecognizeGood® Legend award to Wanda Mills of Capital Area Food Bank in a ceremony at the food bank (8201 S. Congress, Austin, TX), beginning at 2:00 pm on Thursday, October 29, 2015. As part of the presentation, the Capital Area Food Bank received a $1,000 pay-it-forward donation from RecognizeGood in Wanda’s name.
Wanda Mills feels a ‘tug’ on her heart when she thinks of people, especially children, going to bed hungry. For the last 12 years, she has helped to address a need she calls both clear and ever-increasing. She volunteered an astonishing estimated 3,000 hours of her time with the Capital Area Food Bank! The Capital Area Food Bank provides 26 million meals for Central Texans each year! Such a huge need motivates Wanda and her husband Jim, both retired, to help fill it however they can, and she admits, “Having a volunteer assignment waiting for us each day motivates us to get up and get going. We think it keeps us young.” Wanda says the dedicated staff at the food bank makes volunteering a joy.
For over 10 years she managed two programs called Ring Out Hunger and Ink Out Hunger, which allowed donors to support the food bank by dropping off old cell phones and ink / toner cartridges, respectively. Wanda currently serves in many other roles, delivering food collections and maintaining the food bank’s massive supporter database. Both she and Jim also serve as Volunteer Ambassadors, representing Capital Area Food Bank at events all over Austin, like the Martin Luther King Jr. Day March, Empty Bowl Project, and Reggae Fest. Wanda says all those events keep things interesting. “At all the events, when we thank people for their support, they thank us in return for volunteering. That makes each event memorable.”
As a 2015 Legend, Wanda is now eligible to participate in RecognizeGood’s Say Thanks Austin campaign, an annual event which presents the Austin area with a unique opportunity to say “thank you” to a group of remarkable individuals who contribute their time and talents to our community. The participant with the most Thank You votes receives a pay-it-forward donation of $10,000 to the nonprofit of their choice.
View Wanda’s official Legend page, including video and photos from her presentation ceremony.
