VHF is honored to announce our second nominee for Volunteer of the Year: Ann Kendall. Ann has worked closely with VHF as the Advocacy Committee Chair – successfully helping to prepare numerous advocacy grants, planning virtual advocacy chats, serving as a speaker and facilitator during advocacy presentations, and ensuring grant and advocacy strategic goals are met. She consistently attends VHF events to lend support and reviews advocacy requests for local and federal organizations to ensure they match VHF’s mission.
During these unique times, she has ensured that advocacy is a consistent and relevant focus of the organization and has helped successfully pivot our focus and activities to virtual. In addition, Ann has stepped up to write personal thank you notes to high level donors to the organization-ensuring donor cultivation is a top priority for VHF.
Of volunteering for VHF, Ann had this to say:
“When we first moved to Virginia, I knew we needed to connect with the bleeding disorders community to learn the landscape and find a soft place to land. We met Kelly pretty quickly and she was so engaging and caring that we immediately felt comfortable and knew we had allies in our new home. I volunteer because I’m thankful for this soft landing. Through my work in advocacy, I want others to feel empowered to jump into what often feels daunting and unfamiliar—because as a community, our voices are amplified and none of us are alone.”
Ann is a joy to work with and has a true “can do” attitude. She is not afraid to try new things and always has the Virginia inherited bleeding disorders community in mind as she successfully advocates for increased education and access to quality and affordable health care. Thank you, Ann!
