“I never knew what I could not do; therefore, I was willing to try anything.”
Sandy Schuitema has been a fixture at N24HC since 1991. She let us know last June that she was retiring from her dual role as Results Director and Volunteer Director.
In 1991, when she was working in the corporate offices at Amway, long-time N24HCer Barry Andrus ran into Sandy one day. He asked her if she would like to work a volunteer position on Father’s Day weekend. She readily agreed – little knowing that one weekend would turn into a 28-year commitment!
She had been working at Checkpoint 5 for three years when the call went out for recommendations for someone to do Sunday Morning Results. Barry knew Sandy was the one for the job, and recommended her for it. Sandy met with then-directors Skip and Diane Obermeyer who described what they desired in a Results Director (FRIENDLY!). Given her organizational experience and her dedication – and friendliness! – Sandy was a shoo-in. Her first task was to write a job description and a procedural flow chart. The first item on that chart was “GREET THE RIDERS WARMLY!” She’s been doing that ever since.
So much to do!
In 2007, Sandy joined the Board of Directors and was elected Secretary, a position she has graciously agreed to hold through September 30, 2018.
Sandy started working even more closely with Pete and Kathy Steve in organizing the event after the death of Director Lew Persenaire in May of 2008, This included becoming the Volunteer Director, and opening her house to hundreds of T-shirts and brown registration envelopes. There were t-shirt folding parties. There were back tag numbering & labeling parties. And there were envelope-stuffing parties – all with good food and chocolate! She also spearheaded the creation of the manual on all of the things to know and keep track of in putting together N24HC each year.
It’s hard to imagine staging an N24HC without Sandy, but we’ll have her at board meetings this year, and we have “The Binder” that she worked so hard to create to help guide us. We’ll look forward to seeing Sandy’s smiling face at future Challenges, and we’ll be grateful for all that she’s given the event over the last 28 years.
Thank you, Sandy!
From Sandy:
The National 24 Hour Challenge afforded me the courage to broaden my volunteer career in Grand Rapids. After my first stint with N24HC, I went on to YMCA’s Corporate Sport Challenge where I was in charge of setting up & overseeing different games/sports for Tier 1 companies. From there, I joined the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre Guild where I was president, secretary, and concession stand manager/worker. After I retired from Amway in 2008, I went to work in the theatre’s Costume Shop sewing, organizing, labeling, and generally having a wonderful time.