Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Los Gatan Lisa-Marie Bottoni says she is active in volunteerism not for awards or recognition, but simply to help others.

Los Gatan earns award for volunteerism

By Shari Kaplan

For Lisa-Maria Bottoni, volunteering her time and talents is not just a passing fancy or an occasional hobby. It is as much a part of her as the love she has for her husband and 7 1/2-year-old son, and the dedication she has to her 12-year job as legal assistant to the Los Gatos town attorney.

That love of and dedication to volunteerism recently earned her the title of Certified Volunteer of America, an infrequently bestowed award by Epsilon Sigma Alpha International, an organization that promotes education, service and association of its members. The organization's major focus is philanthropic work; its more than 15,000 members annually raise money and donate 650,000 hours to local, national and international causes.

Bottoni's laurels are worn only by the few members who achieve the fifth degree of the organization's Pallas Athene Program--named after the Greek goddess of wisdom. To achieve this level, a member must earn a total of 35,000 points that are awarded in such categories as leadership, volunteer management and philanthropic work.

"Congratulations are in order; this award involves quite a bit of work!" says the organization's executive director B.J. Clark, who gave Bottoni her certificate.

Bottoni, who, for the past year, also served as president of the organization's California chapter, says she does not do volunteer work with recognition in mind. This award was the icing on the cake; the main reason she kept track of the Pallas Athene's rather complicated point system was simply because she wanted to set a personal challenge for herself.

"It's easy to give the time, even if it's not always easy to give the money. It's really painless to help other people. It's just like another extension of me!" she says, of what's kept her hooked on volunteerism since her high school years, when her mother first introduced her to the organization.

"The friendships you develop with the other volunteers is wonderful, too," she adds.

Over the years, Bottoni has been involved with many causes that are local, or possess local divisions or chapters. These include the Emergency Housing Consortium (she was a "dessert girl" for their events); Second Harvest Food Bank (she collected and packaged food for hungry clients); the Salvation Army's Giving Tree (she set trees up in the Los Gatos Civic Center and encouraged fellow town employees to participate); the Lions Blind Center, the American Diabetes Association, the Easter Seals, St. Jude's Children's Hospital and the Association for Retarded Citizens.

She says that one of her most rewarding projects was for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Her job was to interview children with life-threatening or terminal illness, to find out how the organization could fulfill their dearest wish.

"You could be having a terrible day at work, and then, when you do something like this, it totally changes your perspective on things!" she says.

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For more information about Epsilon Sigma Alpha International, call 970.223.2824, or visit www.esaintl.com on the Internet.

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