B’ville Volunteer Center honors Norma Widmann, Victor Jenkins

By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

Each year, the Baldwinsville Volunteer Center honors one man and one woman based on nominations from the community. And what better time to celebrate those that give back to their community than April? It’s National Volunteer Month.

For 2017, Norma Widmann was named Woman Volunteer of the Year and Victor Jenkins was named Man Volunteer of the Year. They were honored at the BVC’s annual banquet April 8. (Watch the banquet on PAC-B.)

The Messenger caught up with the newly crowned volunteers before the banquet to find out what drives them to give back to their community and what makes B’ville such a giving place.

Victor Jenkins: ‘Kindness is contagious’

Baldwinsville Central School District Board of Education, First Presbyterian Church of Baldwinsville

“It’s a very big surprise. I’m very humbled and pleased to get this recognition,” Victor Jenkins said of being named Man Volunteer of the Year.

Jenkins has lived in Baldwinsville since 1980, and his two grown daughters went through the B’ville school system.

“What a great situation,” Jenkins said about raising a family in Baldwinsville. “You are in a community … with a great school. You have lots of opportunities for the kids. You’re about 10 minutes from everything in B’ville … and Syracuse close by.”

Jenkins was first elected to the school board in 2005, serving until 2011 and returning to the board in 2013. He is a past president and vice president and has served on several committees, including the audit committee, policy committee and facilities committee.

“I think we’ve done some very good things for the school from a facilities standpoint,” Jenkins said. “Right now we are re-touring all the buildings as we get ready to be involved in a project called Funding the Future.”

In addition to his work with the school board, Jenkins has been active in the First Presbyterian Church of Baldwinsville, where he serves as a moderator of deacons and is a member of the special gifts committee.

“Church can offer you the opportunity to do many, many things. It’s a good experience because it gives you an opportunity to work closely with many people,” he said. “That’s what’s rewarding about it … accomplishing things with other people.”

Jenkins said Baldwinsville is made up of “a great mix of people” who come together to help each other.

“When you have a giving culture, it spreads,” he said. “Kindness is contagious.”

Jenkins said he feels honored to be named Man Volunteer of the Year, but he emphasized that many people in Baldwinsville are giving back to their community as well.

“I don’t think I’m doing anything above what many, many people are doing here,” Jenkins said. “You’re just trying to help contribute.”

Jenkins’ past community involvement includes the YMCA Fundraising Committee, Baldwinsville Community Scholarship Foundation and the Estate Planning Council of CNY.

Norma Widmann: ‘There’s a lot of people here committed to making this a nice place to live’

Baldwinsville Rotary, International Center of Greater Syracuse

She has spent New Year’s Eve in Bosnia and Herzegovina, tested the latest technology in Japan and witnessed breathtaking views of the Mediterranean in Corsica, but Norma Widmann’s favorite travel destination is Baldwinsville.

“My favorite place in the world is to come back home to my own bed,” she said.

Widmann’s passion for traveling the world — she has visited upwards of 50 countries — has parlayed itself into her volunteer work. She has coordinated the Youth Exchange program for Baldwinsville Rotary and has hosted dozens of guests from other countries through the International Center of Greater Syracuse.

“Volunteering is a very American thing,” Widmann said. “Many of the guests from other countries I host are very surprised that I’m not being paid to host them, and some of them are upset and uncomfortable that I’m not being paid.”

Widmann said she receives more than she gives through volunteering: new friends, a sense of purpose, and feeling good knowing she has helped others.

“We receive a lot but we don’t expect any accolades,” she said, adding, “But it is nice to be named the 2017 [Woman] Volunteer of the Year.”

Volunteering also has helped Widmann through grief. She was invited to join Rotary shortly after her husband passed away.

“It really got me involved right away, so it helped with the adjustment,” she said.

In Baldwinsville, Widmann said, people are “joined for the common good.”

“It just seems to be a natural part of life here,” she said of the volunteering spirit of the community. “There’s a lot of people here committed to making this a nice place to live.”

Widmann compared B’ville to “Cheers” — “where everybody knows your name.”

“I can walk into the post office, the library, the Y and I hear, ‘Hi, Norma!’” she said. “They say you can’t be a ‘Baldwinsvillian’ unless you were born here or have relatives here, but that makes me feel like a Baldwinsvillian.”

Retirement, Widmann said, “shouldn’t be sitting in a rocking chair and watching daytime soap operas.” It should be a time to give back to others and add purpose to your life.

“I think I have a wonderful life,” she said. “It’s probably kept me younger.”

The list of Widman’s current and past community involvement is long. In addition to her work with Rotary and the International Center, she has served on the boards for Syracuse Home and Meals on Wheels of Baldwinsville, driven seniors to doctor’s appointments through the B’ville Express, sold candy with the Friends of the Baldwinsville Public Library and helped with the First United Methodist Church’s Cheery Visitors program and the Baldwinsville Community Food Pantry.