As a volunteer with Elkhart’s Emergency Management Department, she receives a quite a few of them as she works in a fluorescent yellow jacket covered reflective strips. Children will ask her if she’s a police officer and when she tells them she isn’t, they typically ask, “Well, what do you do?”
“‘We stop traffic so you can cross the street safely.’ They say, ‘Well thank you! Can I give you a hug?’ That’s awesome,” she said.
Zollinger and others are most visible when there’s a community event like the Sarah Strong 5K/10K, Elkhart Jazz Festival or Rhapsody in Green festival. They’re usually the ones directing traffic and allowing pedestrians cross the street safely.
To some drivers, they seem like an inconvenience. As Zollinger stopped traffic at the intersection of Johnson Street and North Elkhart Avenue for runners and walkers during a recent run, she heard more than a few expletives and honks were heard.
None of this deterred Zollinger or Barry Sauer, another volunteer. At one point, Sauer stopped traffic and one driver tried going through the intersection while talking on her cellphone. The volunteer told the woman to get off her phone.
The honks start happening when drivers get impatient and don’t want to wait, Zollinger said.
“They try to push you like when runners are coming across the street. We have a gang of them and we have to hold the traffic,” she said.
John Faigh, the head of the Emergency Management Department, said he and the volunteers also go out to direct traffic when there’s a major accident, fire or any other emergency that requires them. Faigh, who is a retired Elkhart police officer, or the volunteers will direct traffic so police officers and firefighters can resume their duties protecting the city.
“It frees them up because if you have a bunch of firemen tied up just standing there directing traffic, they’re not doing what they’re being paid to do. They’re not fighting a fire,” Faigh said.
But directing traffic during civic events and emergencies is only a fraction of what the volunteers do. The department is staffed with volunteers including Faigh, whose job includes planning civic events, disaster response and communicating with city dispatch.
“In the event of a disaster, we implement a program and plan that is devised for the city of Elkhart. We have chainsaws here in case a major storm comes and we need to clear the streets,” he said. “We’d jump in with the street department and assist.”
While he does much of the planning, Faigh said, the volunteers are an integral part of the department. One volunteer has come in nearly every day for 10 years to chat and do maintenance on the department vehicles.
Henry Baskins was an Army mechanic, working on tanks, in the 1960s and a forklift mechanic before he retired. He hated being a homebody and decided to work part-time at Ivy Tech Community College in Goshen and volunteer with the city.
“It’s something I enjoy. I’m not cut out to sit at home and watch TV,” Baskins said. “I’m 72, so I don’t like to crawl under cars anymore.
Baskins enjoys the interaction he gets with the fellow volunteers and the community.
“I’m a people person. I’m not happy when I’m not talking to somebody,” he said. “My wife says I never meet a stranger. If I meet somebody, we’re friends for 10 minutes.”
More people like Baskins, Zollinger and Sauer are needed in the department, Faigh said. They are bright examples of civic-minded, social and dedicated Elkhart community members.
“(Baskins is) dedicated. He has the same aspirations, as I do, of serving your community,” Faigh said. “That’s basically what a volunteer does. They’re doing a civic service for the city. They come when they’re called.”
With warmer weather beginning, so are more outdoor community events that need volunteers. The department has 15 volunteers but at least 10 more are needed, Faigh said. If they can’t be found, they have to get police officers to help direct traffic or patrol events like the Fourth of July celebration, when they could be taking emergency calls.
Helping Elkhart emergency crews and the community members is a good way to spend your time, Zollinger said. She considers the other volunteers to be like family members.
“If I go by there, I’ll stop and talk. ‘Hey, how’s it going with the family?’ Keep in touch with everybody. It’s more like family. We call it our little ’Cheers,’” Zollinger said, referring to the old TV show where “everybody knows your name.”
But the best part of volunteering at the department is getting to directly help others in Elkhart, she said.
“It makes you feel good,” Zollinger said. “You’re keeping people safe and that’s all that matters.”
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