Joan Slorach is on the left.

C. Joan Slorach
Quota International of Salisbury, MD

Joan Slorach personifies the old saying that good things come in small packages! She is a dynamo who has been a member of the Salisbury club for six years.

She has served enthusiastically, becoming involved in the club's many service projects including Cops 'N' Kids, Court Kids, Life Crisis Center, Coastal Hospice, Salvation Army Bell Ringing, and the club's main fund-raiser, the Christmas Craft Fair. She was instrumental in making the club's Quota Cares Month project a success. She solicited both money and contributions for a silent auction in conjunction with a Basket Bingo fund-raiser.

Although Joan has served on the club's board of directors and as a committee chair, she is often the lady behind the camera taking pictures of club events. This is one reason club members have very few pictures of her.

In addition to her Quota volunteer work, Joan gives enormously of herself to her church, helping out with seminars and counting the weekly collections. She assists with the food bank and fills in wherever needed at her church's community outreach program. She works with a community program benefiting the homeless and helped set up the shelter program for her church.

Joan gives the gift of time, helping two individuals on a regular basis. She reads to a woman who is blind and files materials for her weekly, helping her work toward a degree. She visits twice a week with a former colleague who is suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. She often takes the women out to dinner or other social events.

Joan has a lot of energy to share, as seen by all her volunteer activities. She brings this energy to the many Quota projects she participates in. Joan also brings to her club her unique blend of wit and personality with an international flair. She was born and raised in Scotland. Her delightful accent acquired as a native of Scotland enhances many of our programs and activities.

She was one of seven children. She graduated as an RN and midwife in Scotland before coming to the United States around 1960. She settled in Arlington, Virginia, and worked at two hospitals in Washington, D.C, later moving into the city and working as head nurse on the OB/GYN Unit at Georgetown University Hospital. In the early 1970s, she did a refresher course at Booth Maternity Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Joan made her final move in 1976 and settled on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in Salisbury. She worked for a physicians association group as a nurse midwife and over the years delivered hundreds of babies in our local hospital. She retired in1998.

Quotarians in Salisbury are glad Joan chose to stay in our area. Her energy, enthusiasm for life, dedication, and loyalty continue with her volunteer work, and for this we nominate her as our 2006 Volunteer of the Year.

To return to the 2006 Volunteers of the Year main page, click here.