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Janet Bice is a PROP-er angel for organization
Every day, local residents offer their time, effort and talents to help out at nonprofit agencies, schools, youth and senior programs and churches. Each Tuesday, we will tell the story of one of those volunteers whose contributions help make this a better place to live, work and play.
To suggest a volunteer to be spotlighted in our “Helping Hands” feature, call 826-1000, ext. 215, or e-mail news@sedaliademocrat.com.
anet Bice has been a successful fundraiser for PROP — Putting Roofs Over People — but she also provides the housing alliance with other necessities: awareness and hope.
Bob Vickers, housing director for the Pettis County Community Partnership and coordinator for PROP, said, “There are people out there who want to help, like the Moose lodge members, who wouldn’t have connected to PROP without Janet’s help. She is raising awareness among people we might not otherwise be able to reach.”
“The money is great, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “But it’s not just the money, but the bigger picture — hope. … Everyone wants to be part of something that helps people. All of us need hope.”
Bice, a member of Sedalia Moose Lodge 1494, has been a fundraiser for PROP for two years; she has organized three events and is working on a fourth that is slated for April. She has received a lot of support from fellow lodge members, who were recognized at the 2011 International Moose Convention in July for their efforts supporting PROP.
Bice got involved with homeless outreach through Theresa Wolf, a Third National Bank employee, who has been involved with PROP for years.
Wolf asked Bice, “Do you know there are homeless people living under the viaduct?”
Bice said no.
“Do you know the Community Café gives boxes of granola bars to people who live in their cars?”
Again, the answer was no.
“The Lord heard a prayer, and I heard a call,” Bice said.
She did her first fundraiser at Let’s Dance, 204 S. Ohio Ave., after getting some pointers from a friend from the East Coast who had done a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.
That event brought in $800 plus food donations; her next one fetched $2,000.
When the total of $3,160 came in for the last one, “I just bawled,” she said, explaining that she had just hoped to make what she did with her previous effort.
But Vickers said Bice also has provided another $6,000 in in-kind impact, through volunteer hours and donations.
She helps with the biannual homeless count, Make A Difference Day and Bethel Family Church’s monthly Community Download.
Her next fundraiser will be April 21 at the Moose lodge, 119 Duke Road. It will have a hoedown theme, with the band Rumblestrip performing, a Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament, a dinner/dance, raffle and auction. Cost is $8 for just the dinner, $5 for just the dance or $10 combined.
Bice is looking for sponsors to help cover some of the costs. Those interested in the fundraiser can find out more at sedaliadancingfeet.com.
Bice is always looking for ways to help those in need. She works in the accounting department at Pittsburgh Corning, and the company gives hams to employees at Christmas.
Last week, they had two extra hams, and as Vickers said, “It just so happened that two families came into the partnership needing Christmas dinner.”
Bice brought them over before she even knew families had made the requests.
“She is an angel to us, an angel from out of the blue,” Vickers said. “I’m not elevating her to pope status, but she is pretty close.”
He also said for Bice, the work dwarfs any acclaim that comes her way for her efforts.
“Credit is not important to people who are providing help,” Vickers said.
