Employee Volunteer Highlight: Patricia Hall

Patricia Hall, Senior Strategy and Communications Specialist, with her adopted kitten

Where do you volunteer? 

I foster kittens through FourPaws. Now I'm a "foster failure" meaning I adopted my special needs kitten – a deaf immigrant kitty from Kuwait! 

I also volunteer at fundraiser events with HART (Homeless Animals Rescue Team). There, I sell tickets, help run the door, put together items for the silent auctions, seek in-kind donations, put together baskets, work as the MC of the events. It's a lot of fun! 

Unfortunately with COVID it's been harder to do things in person. I usually enjoy volunteering with my son at a church in Alexandria where we package dry food meal packets for the homeless. I also work with BRIGHT PACT where you donate food.

I'm passionate about animal rescue and helping feed people in need.

What do you enjoy most about it?

I've always enjoyed animal companionship. Your life is absolutely so enriched with a pet. It's a responsibility to care for animals, but you get a lot out of it. My son takes our cat out for walks on a leash! This teaches my son responsibility and patience. It's also teaching me that as well. Anything I can do to keep animals off the street and help them find their forever homes, I want to do.

The animal rescue community is also a special breed. People that work with animals are completely selfless and it's nice to surround yourself with people like that.

With feeding the homeless, I think that comes from being in a hispanic family where food is a huge part of the culture. It feels unfathomable to me that somebody could go hungry. I can't imagine that in a country as wealthy as this one, that something as basic as food is lacking for people. I don't want that to be true so any small step I can take that helps to fulfill a basic human need, I'm happy to do that. I know that without food, you struggle in every aspect. I don't want to take something for granted that has been so plentiful in my life. By helping to feed others, they can have the energy to take control in their lives.

Do you have any advice to people who would like to get involved in their communities but aren't sure where to start?

If anybody wanted to go get involved and they didn't know where to start, there's so many places to go to. 

Go to the people that will know. Ask at your police station or contact your county's social services agency. There's always going to be a place that needs me.

Even if you can't commit long term, that's okay. Volunteer Fairfax and Loudoun Cares will match you up with places that need your help at the time your available. Even if you wanted to do a one time thing, there are annual days of service for huge events. 

I used to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and that was really great one-off opportunities. 

I've also been a long-term volunteer with Junior Chamber of Commerce (where founders of Makpar met!) It's very heavily based on community service and giving back. I was recently made a Senator for my Junior Chamber of Commerce chapter. Unfortunately my chapter is no longer active, but when we were, we did a lot of work for building homes, get involved in parades, painting houses, fed homeless, and more. 

Wow, that's inspiring that you donate your time! Thanks for contributing to bettering our community at large, Patty! 

Community service is a core pillar of Makpar's belief system. If you’re a non-profit looking for affordable IT Help Desk support, learn more here. If you’re interested in becoming a community partner with Makpar, please reach out! We’re always looking for ways we can better support our community, whether through corporate volunteer events or otherwise.