Volunteer of the Month: Sarah A.

We are excited to introduce you to our newest Volunteer of the month, Sarah A.  Sarah; her husband Bryan; and her children Darrow and Hudson have all worked together as dedicated SnowBusters keeping the sidewalks clear for our clients for the past ten years!  When they had their early family discussions about volunteering for Cultivate, they were all in as a team.  Over the past decade they have wielded their shovels with glad hearts and she couldn't be more proud of her family.

Born into a military family, Sarah and her family moved around a lot when she was young.  She went to school in Springfield, Virginia, Pueblo, Colorado, Nicosia, Cyprus and Red River, New Mexico. Sarah was lucky that most of her formative years were spent in Colorado, so she considers Colorado home. Sarah and her husband (whom she met at the Dark Horse while attending CU) raised their two kids here in Boulder and they are both grown and off on their own adventures.

Sarah earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in humanities and art history from CU Boulder. Shortly thereafter she began her career in the University of Colorado Office of the President. Over the years her position and responsibilities have evolved, and in 2006, she transferred to the Boulder campus.

Sarah is the assistant vice chancellor for events, protocol and outreach in the Office of the Chancellor at CU Boulder. She manages local, state, national and international outreach activities for the chancellor, in addition to campus athletic and academic events and commencement.

Additionally, Sarah serves as co-chair of the CU Boulder Significant Events Team, an organization of cross-campus professionals tasked with evaluating and implementing large, impactful events across campus, and as the lead staff for the Global Ambassadors program.  Her department does a lot of diverse things to support the campus and most recognizable is Commencement.

They manage up to 80 events during the three days of commencement to celebrate their graduates and their families. Sarah has a great deal of pride every time she gets to watch the CU graduates toss their caps up in the air at the end of commencement.

She is hard-working and very invested in the campus community and feels blessed by all the opportunities presented to her through her work and her family's work is part of CU and Boulder. Building and being a part of a community is important to her since there are so many different communities: from our families, to our neighborhoods, to our professional and even global communities.

In her free time, Sarah loves to read, travel and cook, though she admits she's not very good at it. Most importantly, she loves spending time with her family, pets and friends.

Her parents had three children and despite significant age differences, their extended families are all close and blessed to spend a lot of time together.  Sarah says she was so grateful that her parents lived to be 91 and 93; her father just passed away last March.  Despite their age, they were very engaged with their family and friends and profoundly grateful for their lives and experiences.  Sarah says that caring for aging parents was a hard thing to experience, but their graciousness and gratitude had an enormous impact on her. Because of that loving care, Sarah and her family know first hand how much help aging adults need.  They know that shoveling snow is an easy way to take away one little worry from someone and their family. And, they all agree that it’s great exercise.

We are so grateful to have such a dedicated and caring family team that has been so loyal to help Cultivate's clients.  Thank you for all the hard physical work you all have done shoveling snow to keep them safe and avoid fines.  Volunteers like you and your family are the best advocates for Cultivate and the safety of our aging community members.