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Having spent more than thirty five years working with seniors, Pat Baker has long had a passion for serving this segment of our population. According to Pat, she developed this passion early on as she watched her grandmother pioneer “personal care homes” in the Northeast. She has spent most of her career working as a civil servant in Oklahoma, Texas, and now right here in Georgia. Pat is the Director of Health and Human Services for Gwinnett County. The county’s Senior Services organization falls under Pat’s direction. Consequently, Pat is acutely aware of the needs of Gwinnett County’s seniors, and works hard to provide a broad range of resources to as many residents as possible. In particular, listen in as Pat shares her particular interest in the challenges of Gwinnett County’s grandparents responsible for raising grandchildren.
Gary Galloway has a unique talent for building groups of highly motivated, unpaid individuals to serve Gwinnett County’s seniors in need. Though Gary is technically the Resource and Marketing Coordinator for Gwinnett County Senior Services, he will tell you he is really the Volunteer Services Coordinator. And he is exceptionally good at his job. Spend a few minutes listening to his interview, and you’ll know why. Gary’s ability to tell a story and capture your imagination and your heart will have you wanting to volunteer as well! To get more information, or join one of Gary’s “Dirty Dozens”, call Gwinnett County’s Senior Hotline at (678) 377-4150.
Our final guest this morning has not spent her career in senior services. Pam Tokarz is Senior Vice President for Primerica Financial Services. That said, Pam has spent more than a decade volunteering in the senior community – first at the Norcross Senior Center, and for the fast five years, as a board member for the Friends of Gwinnett County Senior Services. For the past two years, she has served as the president of this organization. Friends of Gwinnett County Senior Services is a non-profit organization that exists exclusively to support the county’s senior services organization through a variety of fundraising opportunities. Over the past ten years, Friends has provided, among other things, 4
Meals on Wheels vans and two other vehicles. In addition, it provides 135,000 meals each year as part of the Meals on Wheels program.
