SaddleBrooke Community Outreach has honored two outstanding volunteers, Alice Maitland and JoAnn Livingston, as Volunteers of the Year for 2024 to 2025.
Alice Maitland is one of four co-managers of Kids’ Closet, a SaddleBrooke Community Outreach Organization (SBCO) program that supplies children in the Copper Corridor (between Oracle and Superior) from preschool to eighth grade with school clothing and books.
In addition to raising five children with her husband, Patrick, Alice worked for telephone companies for 25 years, moving from telephone operator to marketing director. Alice and Patrick moved from Forest Grove, Oregon to SaddleBrooke three years ago. Like so many formerly busy mothers, she immediately looked for other activities to occupy her time. “Volunteering makes my heart beat,” says Alice, so, she started volunteering at Kids’ Closet in Mammoth (a natural fit for a grandmother of 13 and a soon-to-be great-grandmother!)
During this spring session, Kids’ Closet outfitted 1,589 children with new clothes for the 2024-25 school year. “This project makes such a difference in disadvantaged children’s lives,” says Alice. She recalls recently receiving a thank you note from an eighth grader, who bluntly explained his family’s situation. “We are broke, and I only had one outfit to wear to school. Now, I have nice, new things to wear!”
In addition to Kids’ Closet, Alice volunteers as a receptionist at the SBCO office, and at Teen Closet, which provides shopping nights in January/February and July to students in the ninth to twelfth grades. In the summer months, when Kids’ Closet is closed, she serves at Tri-Community Food Bank in Mammoth.
Volunteers at Kids’ Closet have the opportunity to work directly with the students, helping them to pick out their new wardrobe. They also can work in the warehouse helping to stock the clothing bins. “We volunteers get so much more than we ever give—life is so much richer and there is such a sense of satisfaction in helping children,” says Alice. [Author’s Note: Alice’s past skills at marketing are still evident; by the end of our interview, I had signed up to volunteer at Kids’ Closet!]
Jo Ann Livingston had a career in the travel industry, first as a flight attendant for United Airlines (back in the days of mandatory weigh-ins!) She later worked in a variety of positions for United, including Inflight Service Director on board DC10’s and 747s, (the jets with the glamorous upstairs), Manager of the United Frequent Flyer Club, on the development team for the Mileage Plus Program and many other marketing-related projects. Later, she moved from United to the AAA (American Automobile Association) as a manager overseeing store operations, travel, insurance and customer service agents.
Jo Ann’s career left little time for volunteer activities; she remedied that by throwing herself into a myriad of activities upon moving in 2011 to SaddleBrooke with her late-husband, David. Jo Ann has volunteered for Kids’ Closet, the Golden Goose Thrift Shop, SBCO Walk for Kids, the annual SBCO Food Drive and as a docent for the SBCO Home Tour!
She has used her experience in business management to further the mission of the Golden Goose, first as a board member, and later as vice president and then president of the board. The revenues, after operating expenses, generated by the Golden Goose are split equally between SBCO and Impact of Southern Arizona. “I started out as a volunteer for Kids’ Closet; it was just so gratifying to see a child’s excitement at getting a new pair of shoes,” says Jo Ann. “However, I decided I could be of more value helping the Golden Goose increase revenues and work toward its future success.” It has obviously paid off as the staff and volunteers generated revenues of over two million dollars in 2023!
“I get so much joy out of volunteering for SBCO and the Golden Goose, they are able to do so much good with the money raised and I get to work with such fabulous people,” says Jo Ann. [This author suspects the people she works with feel the same way about Jo Ann.]
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