18th Annual Volunteer of the Year Award - 2022
Our Winner Is
Sam Kelley - Vet 2 Vet Maine
Pictured top right: Anita Chandler - Altrusa Portland, Sam Kelley - Vet 2 Vet Maine, and Susan Dudley Gold - Executive Director Vet 2 Vet Maine
Pictured bottom right: Anita Chandler, Sam Kelley, and his wife Jean Kelley
Learn more about Vet 2 Vet Maine at: https://vet2vetmaine.org/
Pictured bottom right: Anita Chandler, Sam Kelley, and his wife Jean Kelley
Learn more about Vet 2 Vet Maine at: https://vet2vetmaine.org/
Here's what you should know about the 2022 Volunteer of the year!
Robert “Sam” Kelley has been a volunteer with Vet to Vet Maine (V2VME) since 2017, when he trained to become a peer companion for lonely veterans. As a V2VME peer companion, he is required to visit his assigned veteran at least twice a month, but he usually visits once or twice a week, providing companionship and extending friendship to a veteran who needs a friend. He also plays an important role in assisting his veteran friends in accessing well-earned benefits and services that can improve their lives. A Vietnam combat veteran himself, Sam has a deep compassion for his fellow veterans. His first veteran friend was estranged from his family, lived alone, and had difficulty navigating the activities of daily living. With the help of Sam and V2VME, this veteran got muchneeded home care from the VA for 4-5 days each week, enabling him to stay in his home until his death in 2020. At one point, when he couldn’t reach the veteran by phone, Sam alerted local EMTs and traveled to the veteran’s home himself to check on him. The veteran had fallen and was unable to seek help. He spent several days in the hospital following the incident, but thanks to Sam, the outcome was not worse.
After the death of his first veteran, Sam has visited two other veterans. Currently he is visiting a 95-year-old World War II veteran whose hearing loss had isolated him from friends and family. We recently received a glowing report from the veteran’s social worker that Sam has been instrumental in obtaining earphones for him from the VA that have greatly improved his ability to communicate again. The two veterans spend time sharing stories and talking together—a favorite pastime that earphones have made much more enjoyable.
In addition to helping individual veterans, Sam is committed to V2VME and its mission to ease the social isolation of lonely Maine veterans. He has served on the V2VME board since 2019 and chairs the Fundraising Committee, spearheading a successful $1,000 match challenge that raised more than $4,000 for the organization. He raised an additional $1,100 from a Facebook campaign asking friends and family to donate to V2VME in celebration of his 75th birthday.
His latest volunteer venture for V2VME is producing and hosting a TV show for veterans on Portland Media Center’s public access channel called Vet to Vet Maine that addresses many issues of interest to veterans. Sam attended a required TV studio production class to learn how to produce a show and rounded up three other people—another V2VME board member, a V2VME volunteer, and his grandson—to serve as the show’s crew. The show will help publicize V2VME and its mission in addition to presenting speakers from many other veterans’ organizations. The first show, featuring V2VME executive director and the organization’s president, can be seen on V2VME’s website, https://vet2vetmaine.org.
Sam says his involvement in Vet to Vet Maine and the opportunity to aid a fellow veteran is “literally one of the best things I have ever done for my fellow man in my life"
Robert “Sam” Kelley has been a volunteer with Vet to Vet Maine (V2VME) since 2017, when he trained to become a peer companion for lonely veterans. As a V2VME peer companion, he is required to visit his assigned veteran at least twice a month, but he usually visits once or twice a week, providing companionship and extending friendship to a veteran who needs a friend. He also plays an important role in assisting his veteran friends in accessing well-earned benefits and services that can improve their lives. A Vietnam combat veteran himself, Sam has a deep compassion for his fellow veterans. His first veteran friend was estranged from his family, lived alone, and had difficulty navigating the activities of daily living. With the help of Sam and V2VME, this veteran got muchneeded home care from the VA for 4-5 days each week, enabling him to stay in his home until his death in 2020. At one point, when he couldn’t reach the veteran by phone, Sam alerted local EMTs and traveled to the veteran’s home himself to check on him. The veteran had fallen and was unable to seek help. He spent several days in the hospital following the incident, but thanks to Sam, the outcome was not worse.
After the death of his first veteran, Sam has visited two other veterans. Currently he is visiting a 95-year-old World War II veteran whose hearing loss had isolated him from friends and family. We recently received a glowing report from the veteran’s social worker that Sam has been instrumental in obtaining earphones for him from the VA that have greatly improved his ability to communicate again. The two veterans spend time sharing stories and talking together—a favorite pastime that earphones have made much more enjoyable.
In addition to helping individual veterans, Sam is committed to V2VME and its mission to ease the social isolation of lonely Maine veterans. He has served on the V2VME board since 2019 and chairs the Fundraising Committee, spearheading a successful $1,000 match challenge that raised more than $4,000 for the organization. He raised an additional $1,100 from a Facebook campaign asking friends and family to donate to V2VME in celebration of his 75th birthday.
His latest volunteer venture for V2VME is producing and hosting a TV show for veterans on Portland Media Center’s public access channel called Vet to Vet Maine that addresses many issues of interest to veterans. Sam attended a required TV studio production class to learn how to produce a show and rounded up three other people—another V2VME board member, a V2VME volunteer, and his grandson—to serve as the show’s crew. The show will help publicize V2VME and its mission in addition to presenting speakers from many other veterans’ organizations. The first show, featuring V2VME executive director and the organization’s president, can be seen on V2VME’s website, https://vet2vetmaine.org.
Sam says his involvement in Vet to Vet Maine and the opportunity to aid a fellow veteran is “literally one of the best things I have ever done for my fellow man in my life"