AARP Utah honors Pat Bayer for volunteer work

Friday, Nov. 13, 2015

DRAPER —  Pat Bayer, coordinator of Logistics and Special Projects at Juan Diego Catholic School, was recognized as a Volunteer of the Year by AARP Utah.

Bayer is involved with many volunteer activities, including the annual charity benefit at St. Joseph’s Villa; she was nominated for the award by Beth Ehrhardt, president of the Senior Charity Care Foundation, formerly the St. Joseph Villa Foundation for Charity Care.

 “Every year she helps with the Hope Benefit, and in doing that she not only meets every month to help discuss our plans for the Hope Benefit, but she actually is in charge of checking in the silent auction and the checkout. … It is a huge process; she coordinates all of that,” said Ehrhardt. 

Bayer also “brings in and recruits a lot of volunteers, many of whom are ambassadors from Juan Diego Catholic High School, where she works; and also she brings some adult volunteers,” said Ehrhardt, whose nomination of Bayer was originally for the AARP Andrus Award for Community Service, the organization’s highest award for volunteers. Although Bayer wasn’t selected for that award, she was named a Volunteer of the Year.

Bayer has volunteered with the Friends of the Senior Care Foundation since it was formed in 2011, but “she was actually a volunteer for the St. Joseph Villa Charity Care Foundation. When the villa was sold she followed the services in terms of the fundraiser part of it,” said Ehrhardt, adding that Bayer’s devotion to this cause has been wonderful.

“I began helping with the villa dinner, as some of us old-timers still call it, about 10 years ago, at the invitation of Susan Northway, a member of the Friends of St. Joseph Villa,” Bayer said. “I helped with the event, and then joined the Friends board. My daughter, Kate, has helped for several years and joined the Friends, as well. My husband helps out at the event when he can, too.” 

By bringing the Juan Diego students to volunteer at the foundation events, Bayer   “has helped us and helped them,” Ehrhardt said. “You kind of identify career and volunteer paths going forward after graduation. We have at least one person who graduated from Juan Diego that keeps volunteering afterwards.”

Dr. Galey Colosimo, Juan Diego Catholic High School principal, agrees that Bayer’s work with the student ambassadors is significant.

 “Perhaps her most visible assignment  is coordinating events outside the school for our student ambassadors to serve,” he said. “In the diocese, when our students in their signature blue sport coats arrive at an event, it almost always means that Pat will be accompanying them to ensure that our students fulfill their service duties and represent Juan Diego in the best fashion possible.” 

In fact, Bayer is so dedicated to the student ambassadors that the day that the Volunteer of the Year award was presented, she was unable to accept it because she was with the ambassadors helping at the Senior Charity Care Foundation banquet. Her husband accepted the award on her behalf.

“In short, Pat is one of the most valuable employees we have at the Skaggs Catholic Center and always serves with the idea of the Church’s mission. We count on her for many things, and she always delivers,” Colosimo added.

Ehrhardt said that the whole idea of getting the people to really understand the needs of seniors is also a great contribution of Bayer to the community.

“I have seen, first hand, seniors who have become isolated because they cannot hear, or those who do not take their meals in community because they have few or no teeth, or cannot join in at activities because of poor eyesight. This could be us, or our loved ones,” said Bayer.

The mission of the Senior Charity Care Foundation is to improve the quality of life for those in need who are older than 55. The foundation provides financial assistance to those in senior care settings and senior apartments who require care, services or support but have exhausted all other potential funding sources and do not have the financial resources to pay.

“Pat has been very dynamic in helping to spread the word of what we are doing,” said Ehrhardt. 

“As Catholics, we are called to serve others. It is a basic tenant of our faith. It is part of loving one another, in the most basic of ways. This is why we are here. I am lucky enough to be able to serve through organizations such as the SCCF,” said Bayer.