On Sunday, October 4, Ariel Fitzgerald, acting director of the Women’s Hearth at Transitions, joined us during worship to present INUUC with the Marie Pizelo Award for outstanding volunteer service. The award was first announced at Transitions’ People Who Care luncheon, where INUUC, along with Stephanie Samson and Linda Lynn, was named a co-recipient alongside St. Clare Ecumenical Catholic Church.
The award honors Marie Pizelo, a longtime Women’s Hearth volunteer who for years was the first face participants saw when they walked through the door. Marie was known for her fierce compassion and for greeting every participant by name, a practice that still shapes the Hearth’s sense of community today.
Our partnership with the Hearth began when St. Clare, which has served monthly meals there for more than 15 years, saw its volunteer group shrinking. Rather than end the meals, they went looking for help, and Stephanie, Linda, and INUUC stepped in. The two groups have served together every month for the past year, and as Ariel put it, they blended seamlessly.
Ariel shared one story that captures the spirit of this work. After noticing that a few participants weren’t eating, the volunteers came to her with ideas and questions. A few weeks later, they had changed how lunch is served. Participants still line up for the main course, but volunteers now go table to table offering sides, seconds, and dessert. That small change created more time for conversation and one-on-one connection, and the monthly meals have become one of the Hearth’s most cherished times.
INUUC’s support reaches well beyond the meal line. The congregation financially backs the Friday meals and has donated grab-and-go food for women living on the street or moving between shelters, along with hygiene items and everyday essentials. Twice, INUUC has also given flexible funds for needs no other Transitions fund covers. That money has paid rental application fees for women working to move into housing. In one case, it replaced ten medications that had been stolen from a participant. The cost was ten dollars, and without it, she would have gone an entire weekend without her medication.
As Ariel said on Sunday, “That is what flexible support does. It lets us say yes in the moments when nothing else can.”
Thank you to Stephanie, Linda, and everyone at INUUC whose time and gifts made this recognition possible.
To learn more about Transitions and its programs, visit help4women.org. If you’d like to support the Women’s Hearth and Transitions’ work to end homelessness and poverty for women and children in Spokane, you can give online at transitions.givecloud.co/product/GEND/general-donation, or reach out to Libby Fitzgerald, Major Gifts Officer at Transitions, at efitzgerald@help4women.org or (509) 271-2805. Libby is happy to talk with anyone who wants to learn more or explore ways to get involved.