South Coastal Village Volunteers

Helpful Village Software System

Donald Sheridan
Since its inception, the South Coast Village Volunteers has used the software program Club Express to manage our operations. Club Express provides an interface for tracking applications, storing demographics, scheduling member requests, tracking financials, sending communications, and reporting. It has served us relatively well.

Last year we became aware of another system, Helpful Village. Designed by a Village volunteer, it is specifically tailored for Village operations. Many components can benefit our day-to-day work. The vendor is easy to work with, and we should be able to customize the system to our needs. Much of this customization can be done by us, making our implementation run more smoothly.

After signing a contract with Helpful Village, we will now begin to migrate our data to the new system. Full implementation should come in the near future. This system has significant training materials, including a library of YouTube videos to help our administrators, staff, and volunteers become familiar with the program.

Helpful Village is already being used by more than one hundred Villages nationwide, which now have a great deal of experience in facilitating the transition that SCVV will make. We are looking forward to this exciting new tool to help us help our members and our community.

A Word from the Chair

Every month (or nearly), I have the privilege of attending a meeting with four of the most caring people I know. We meet to talk about our members and how they are doing. We discuss each person, some briefly and others at length.

Summer Traffic is Coming!

As homeowners and businesses begin to prepare for the visitor season, traffic has already increased. Past history tells us that on Fridays during the summer, traffic is gridlocked and our volunteers are busy with house guests and activities. Last year, with your cooperation, we tried to avoid the Friday traffic congestion from June through mid-September.

Cottage Tour Hosts Needed

SCVV is excited to support the South Coastal Library’s 2025 Beach & Bay Cottage Tour. We will be sponsoring one of the seven homes that will be open for in-person tours on July 23 and 24. This is a fantastic opportunity to help raise funds for our local library while also sharing information about SCVV.

Next Dine & Donate

June 2 – Big Fish Grill

Long & Foster is proud to partner with the South Coastal Village Volunteers to help raise funds for this much-needed service to our community. In collaboration with the Big Fish Grill in Ocean View, SCVV will benefit from a Dine & Donate on Monday, June 2, from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Huge Tax Day Turnout

Dine & Donate at Northeast Seafood Kitchen

From the opening at 4:00 p.m. until the last diners at 9:00 p.m. on April 15, Northeast Seafood Kitchen was packed with supporters of the South Coastal Village Volunteers—as well as with other customers looking for a good dinner. Thanks to the generosity of Northeast Seafood in donating a portion of its revenues for the evening, SCVV increased the funds used to support our programs.

SCVV Spreads the Word at the Addy Sea Spring Soiree

The South Coastal Village Volunteers was invited to participate in the Addy Sea’s annual spring benefit for the Bethany Beach Volunteer Fire Department. This year’s event, held on April 27, marked the third time that SCVV was invited to have an information table.

Sixty Spring/Easter Baskets Delivered

The Sweets and Sunshine Committee gathered on April 8 to make more than sixty spring/Easter baskets for SCVV members. The group included Ferne Cooper, Lori Gentry, Jan Gibson, Michele Bell, Liz Bolton, Melanie Lincoln, and Rosemary Murray. Nancy Main hosted the gathering.

Member Spotlight: Louise Carey

“My dream was always to live at the beach,” muses Louise Carey, who celebrated her 99th birthday in early April. Raised in Wilmington, Delaware, Helen Louise Otto spent her summers with her grandmother in Ventnor, New Jersey.

T-Shirts Are Ready to Wear

This spring you will notice many of our volunteers wearing new SCVV T-shirts and polo shirts, like the one modeled above by Steve Ricks in our Ocean View office.

Pretzels Anyone?

Our member Frannie Moyer stopped by the SCVV office—and dropped off both the heartfelt note at left and enough soft pretzels to feed an army of hungry volunteers! We all thank Frannie for bringing joy. And pretzels.

Volunteer Spotlight: Diane Maddex

Joan Gordon

Over the last year, Diane Maddex has quietly taken over one function of the South Coastal Village Volunteers’ communications after another: posting Facebook notifications, liaising with our website manager, and contributing to and now designing and producing the newsletter.

News from the Development Team

As we welcome spring and plan for a summer filled with opportunities, we are saying farewell to a wonderful member of our Development Team, Karen Taylor. She is moving to Minnesota to be near family.

Helpful Village Software System

Last year we became aware of another system, Helpful Village. Designed by a Village volunteer, it is specifically tailored for Village operations. Many components can benefit our day-to-day work.

Advice for Heart Health

So much depends on our hearts, says Steuart Martens, a national board-certified health coach who also is president of the Village Volunteers board of directors and a regular contributor to our SCVV newsletter.

Toxins Lurking in the Home

Toxins are harmful agents found in the environment, whether the home environment or outdoors. For this article I will focus on personal-care products.

Beware of deed Fraud

Local officials in Delaware are warning consumers about a crime that could jeopardize their homes—often their most valuable asset.