Volunteer Profiles


WAWC’s success depends on the hardworking volunteers who serve in our various services and programs. We profile some of them here to acknowledge them, but more importantly to prove the fact that anyone can volunteer. We are grateful to our volunteers for their dedication to the empowerment of women and their children and families. Without them we would be less successful in our work. For more information on how to serve as a volunteer, please visit the WAWC Volunteer Opportunities page.

Missy Cruz Doe

Student, UCSC
Mentor, Youth Development Services
since 2005

Miss Cruz Doe had specific ideas about the type of volunteering that interested her. She hoped to engage in meaningful interactions away from the campus life at UCSC where she is studying sociology. WAWC’s Youth Mentoring Program exceeded her expectations even before she was matched with an at-risk young woman. “Volunteering provides me with a sense of satisfaction and general well-being,” said Missy Cruz. “Even if you have a bad day at work or school, volunteering will make you feel good about yourself.” She further comments that, “As a sociology major, volunteering at WAWC has connected me with things about my heart that I can’t learn in a textbook.”

John Doe

CEO, Local Company, Inc.
Youth Development Services
since 1999
John Doe is an enthusiastic volunteer who has donated much of his time to the Youth Development Program at WAWC. John spends time reading, playing, and just talking with a young boy. He helps the boy with his school work and also brings a caring face into the life of a struggling child. John said, “I think it is helpful for him to have a warm, loving presence in his life. It is something he never really had.”

Vida Cruz

Teacher, Harbor High School
Domestic Violence Services
Vida Cruz is a dedicated volunteer. Her enthusiasm was evident when within two weeks of moving to Boulder Creek she first volunteered at the WAWC Annual Strawberry Festival. Apart from working “tirelessly in the service of women” every week for the past fifteen months, she also helps out in the Family Literacy Program teaching at-risk kids how to read. Being a volunteer, especially a consistent one, opens up newer opportunities for interaction with her students who also volunteer in the youth development programs. “I try not to act too much like a teacher,” she states humbly. This experience has made her “much more compassionate” and she now truly “understands the reasons for disempowerment.”