![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/BVS-luncheon-donna-parcell.jpg\")
The Wednesday BVS Luncheon celebrating 75 years of the organization, began with a recognition of volunteers. Former BVSers were asked to stand up according to the decade in which they served. Jacob Miller, of Spring Grove, Pa., served from 1959-1960 in Rapid City, S.D. Miller, who grew up on a farm, recalls serving the Sioux residents \u201cas a utility person. I started a 4H Club, a basketball team, distributed government surplus food,\u201d and many other tasks. Following his return home he used those skills and became a social worker for the next several decades of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doris Dibert, of Snake Spring Valley, Pa., served from 1958-1960 in the Lybrook Mission in New Mexico. She recalled that they called themselves the \u201c43 Herd,\u201d and their motto was \u201cWe can change the world!\u201d Doris served with her late husband, Don, and recalled that her cohort included Chuck Boyer and Dale Minnich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Partners in Service Award<\/strong> was given to Jim Lehman who, though not an actual BVS volunteer, has served the organization by taking part in think tanks, writing, and filmmaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking to the luncheon, Lehman said, \u201cBVS is one of the best things the Church of the Brethren has ever done, in my opinion.\u201d He recalled how \u201cIn the years after World War II young adults started to have an enlarged consciousness.\u201d At the 1947 Annual Conference M.R. Zigler \u201cmesmerized the young adults with a speech about the suffering, homelessness, and hunger\u201d experienced in post-war Europe. The young adults left wanting to do something. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Quoting Zigler who once said, \u201cIt\u2019s the meeting after the meeting that\u2019s the meeting,\u201d he described the two-week prayer vigil and workshop that expanded to three weeks, and a continued witness for a program in which young adults could serve the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This led, in the 1948 Annual Conference in Colorado Springs, to a request from the floor by Ted Chambers, who dramatically carried a wooden crate to the mike because he stood less than five feet high, to bypass the usual process of queries at the local and district levels, to request such a program be founded immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Calvert Ellis, the moderator, was a stickler for operating by the book, but after consulting with the other officers of the conference agreed to let a motion be made. It passed unanimously, and, although the conference took place in mid-June, the first set of volunteers was processed in September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Despite the changes brought about by the pandemic, Lehman said that the number of BVS volunteers is back to pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier at the luncheon Chelsea Goss Skillen gave a \u201cState of BVS\u201d address and listed several upcoming opportunities for individuals of all ages to serve in the coming year. Walt Wiltschek led a BVS Trivia quiz. The meeting closed with the singing of the unofficial BVS anthem, \u201cWill you let me be your servant.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Wednesday BVS Luncheon celebrating 75 years of the organization, began with a recognition of volunteers. The Partner in Service Award was presented to Jim Lehman. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":22115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1703],"tags":[2657,2324,2508,68,5,2067,2742],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-22110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-of-the-brethren-newsline","tag-75th-anniversary","tag-anniversary","tag-annual-conference-2023","tag-brethren-volunteer-service","tag-bvs","tag-frank-ramirez","tag-jim-lehman"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22110"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22308,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22110\/revisions\/22308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22110"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=22110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/Jim-Lehman-award-by-Donna-Parcell.jpg\")