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YMCA honors two nursing professors as ‘volunteers of the year’

Boise’s local YMCA honors outstanding volunteers as part of its annual “Volunteer of the Year” award. This year, two School of Nursing faculty received this award from the Treasure Valley Family YMCA: Associate Professor Jenny Alderden and Assistant Professor Sarah Llewellyn. They were selected as co-recipients for their efforts at the Y Camp at Horsethief Reservoir.

Llewellyn and Alderden stand and smile in front of a camp lodge building with blue skies overhead.
Llewellyn and Alderden pictured last summer volunteering at Y Camp at Horsethief Reservoir.

Alderden and Llewellyn volunteered as camp nurses last summer, but it wasn’t either nurse’s first year participating. Before going this time, they decided to bring extra clothes to boost the clothing inventory in the camp’s health center.

According to Lincoln McLain, associate executive director of the camp, “Not even a day later we needed those clothes to help build up some campers who came to camp without the same means as others.”

In his email notifying Alderden and Llewellyn of their award, McLain described them as “two incredible self-starters who went beyond what we had and reached out to our campers and community members in need.”

“This kind of caring and generosity is how we make the world a better place,” he wrote.

The Treasure Valley Family YMCA honored Alderden and Llewellyn at their annual meeting on June 5.

“Service is an important part of the faculty role at Boise State University, and Jenny and Sarah’s service to the YMCA exemplifies using expertise and caring to serve others,” said Amy Spurlock, School of Nursing Associate divisional dean.

Boise State nursing faculty have volunteered at Y Camp since 2008.