Contact:	Arlene Klemow	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
	908/301-1899	August 11, 2008

 

After Three Failed Adoptions, South Plainfield Woman Finds
Comfort & Satisfaction Volunteering for Crisis Hotline

South Plainfield — Forty-three-year-old Joanne Zeliff loves children. She counts her 11 nieces and nephews as one of her biggest blessings in life. So when her three attempts to adopt her own children along with husband Mark ended in heart-breaking disappointment, there wasn’t much that made her feel better. Not until the South Plainfield woman signed up to volunteer for CONTACT We Care, the 24-hour caring and crisis hotline based in Westfield.

“If I can’t be a mother — I thought I could do this. Volunteering for CONTACT satisfies my need to be needed and help others. Everyone needs to be needed.”

Zeliff has been offering the gift of listening to callers who are lonely, depressed, stressed or suicidal for five years now. “It’s such interesting work — you never know what’s going to be on the other end of the line.”

Whether the caller is an elderly person, who is lonely, or someone in the midst of an anxiety attack or an individual who has lost all hope and reason to live, Zeliff says she feels prepared to deal with the call. “You are so well-trained by CONTACT to deal with any type of call — it’s a methodical process, and you really learn to use your instincts.”

Born and raised in Elizabeth, Zeliff and her husband have lived in South Plainfield for ten years. She works as an Employment Specialist for the Union County Division of Social Services, helping to facilitate training positions for welfare clients so they can gain job skills. She also works part-time as a bartender at the American Legion Banquet Hall in South Plainfield, along with volunteering as Vice President of the Women’s Auxiliary at the American Legion.

“Volunteering for CONTACT We Care may be more helpful to me than to the callers. It’s given me so much. I’ve gained a tremendous sense of perspective. Sometimes I can start my shift on the lines in a bad mood and then get a caller who is in a really bad place — mentally ill — and it focuses me on what I have — that my bad day is nothing compared to other people’s struggles.”

“Some of our callers struggle to get out of bed — They call wanting someone to be with them as they try to get going. It feels good when they say, ‘I got up today and went on an interview.’ That’s a major step!

“Other people call because they have no one to share their great day with. They are happy and want to share it,” said Zeliff.

And in the case of a suicidal caller, Zeliff says you are taught how to calmly deal with the call. “Once the person is safe, you take a big deep breath. It’s very rewarding to know you have kept the person safe.”

Describing herself as content now with her husband, two dogs, two rabbits, three fish and volunteer work, Zeliff says she feels really good at the end of a shift on the hotline. “I know I did something really important and productive. I’ve made a real difference, kept someone alive or given the caller a reason to look forward to the next day.”

And despite the challenges of the calls, Zeliff says she likes that the work is not too emotional. “It’s not painful work. There’s a comfortable distance between the caller and the volunteers because the calls are anonymous and over the phone.”

For more information about volunteering for CONTACT We Care, please call 908/301-1899 or visit the organization’s website at www.contactwecare.org. The next Volunteer Training Class begins on September 24th.