Nadine

Jodi Sipes – Volunteer Program Director, WVC

Nadine Valerio is a very special community volunteer. As the manager for PanTec Mini Storage, Nadine is always on the lookout for ways she and PanTec can help out their community. They donate space to several causes including the Light House Mission, the Sheriff Department’s Project Santa Claus, Computers For Kids In Need, and WVC’s very own Project Warm Up.

Nadine’s favorite cause so far drew our attention for this story – she saw an article in the Bellingham Herald about Jessie Reeves who collects computers, updates and fixes them, and then takes them to children who can’t afford to buy computers. The article mentioned how he had computers piled up all over his house, so Nadine called and offered him space to store them at PanTec. He was so grateful for the offer and said his wife would be even more grateful to have their house back!

What is really impressive about Nadine is that she actively seeks out opportunities to help. She looks for needs in the newspaper and offers free space to some non-profit organizations when they come to rent space. When she sees a true need, she takes action to create a solution. When ARC was moving into their new building, she donated space for them to use to make the transition easier.

Phil Bryan of Moving and Storage Solutions stores unwanted furniture at PanTec until he finds people who need them through local churches and other organizations. It’s alert and caring folks like Nadine, Phil, and Jessie who make Whatcom County a community we are all proud to call home.

Whatcom Volunteer Center has stored thousands of hand-made warm items like hats, blankets, and scarves at PanTec for the last 4 years. Project Warm Up gathers more than two thousand such items each year to distribute through local non-profit agencies. These agencies then get the warm items to the people who need them.

The WVC office would be buried in knitted and crocheted items without PanTec’s kind help with storage space!

Nadine retired in March after 17 years with PanTec. We will certainly miss her and want to take this opportunity to recognize her 19 years of volunteerism in Whatcom County. PanTec has been lucky to have such a community-oriented employee, and WVC has been grateful to have such a great representative to work with – but mostly, the community has been blessed to have Nadine – always on the lookout for a place to lend a hand!