Each year, SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) bestows the Lifetime Achievement Award on a volunteer who has provided 20 years of service to the organization. Two decades of continuous service is quite an achievement and in 2024 to 2025, two special people received this recognition: Jeanette Wollinka and Marilyn Christensen.
In 1993, Jeanette Wollinka and her husband, James, moved to SaddleBrooke from Truckee, California. Jeanette spent a total of 45 years working in the travel industry, first as a ticket agent for Continental Airlines in Roswell, New Mexico, then as a stewardess for Western Airlines. After marrying, she became a travel agent, eventually owning her own business in Pocatello, Idaho. Before retiring at age 82, she worked for Bon Voyage Travel here in Tucson.
Jeanette first began volunteering for SBCO as a receptionist in the office in 2004. For a few years, she served as the scheduler for the Monday volunteers at Kids’ Closet and then became a clothing buyer for several years. This role involved ordering clothing, underwear, and socks for the Closet, working with vendors to ensure on-time delivery, making emergency buys when shipments were delayed, monitoring inventory and traveling to Las Vegas for buying trips (which is not much fun in August). She finally had to leave this position to help care for her husband who is now 97 years old.
Jeanette’s SBCO volunteer work also has included several years delivering the SaddleBrooke Source Book to her unit and other units as necessary. For many years, she has served on the golf cart patrol during the Walk for Kids and as a docent during the annual Home Tour.
Beyond her service with SBCO, Jeanette has served on the traffic committee for the annual SaddleBrooke Health Fair and for 10 years worked on Friday mornings in the SaddleBrooke One Library. She also regularly worked at the Golden Goose Thrift Shop as a bagger on Tuesday afternoon.
According to Jeanette, “The most gratifying volunteer work I have done was with Kid’s Closet. But any volunteering I have done with SBCO made me feel like I was helping to make its projects succeed volunteering has been a wonderful way to make friends and feel like a part of our community. It is wonderful to feel that you belong. I have encouraged anyone I could, especially new people in our community, to volunteer. We feel blessed that we chose SaddleBrooke for the retirement life, even though I was not retired all that time We are so fortunate to have made this our home for the past 32 years.”
Some would say that Jeanette has never really retired and SBCO is grateful for her dedicated service.
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