Volunteers are truly the life blood of San Damiano: they help plan events, assist with fundraising, and pitch in on essential jobs such as ground cleans up and serving on committees. Lynne Chase is one of these much valued San Damiano (SD) volunteers and she is someone whose motivation to pitch in derives, in part, from perceiving San Damiano as a "sacred space."
Lynne devotes a lot of time to San Damiano, but she also treasures time hiking along Lake Superior, doing yoga, and cooking. She moved to Monona in 2020 and “discovered San Damiano” on her "daily dog walks." Her friend Sue Carr (another deeply appreciated SD volunteer!) connected Lynne to the Friends of San Damiano. Lynne then joined the Community Engagement team and jumped in to help in a variety of ways, including event planning and volunteer coordination.
Lynne describes herself a “welcoming, helpful, nature lover,” possibly the perfect description of a SD volunteer. Her favorite SD moments remain walking her dog along the lakeshore in the late afternoon and her special SD memory was when she and her pup encountered a napping muskrat who peacefully allowed them to just enjoy the moment.
Also special to Lynne? Like many of us it is "introducing friends to San Damiano for the first time."
Thanks Lynne for your many dedicated hours of service!
For anyone who would like to join Lynne in volunteering at San Damiano, please email us at friendsofsandamiano@gmail.com or see our volunteer page for more information.
*Thank you to volunteer, Liz Dannenbaum, who wrote this story.
