Skip to main content

IBX Insights

Blue Crew Volunteer Leaders: Sarah Villamayor

By April 28, 2017August 23rd, 2021Community Volunteerism

Sarah Villamayor (left) and her fellow Blue Crew advisory board member, Helen Furlow, happily share their time and talents with many local non-profit organizations.

Sarah Villamayor, Management & Leadership Development Specialist
Years on the Blue Crew Advisory Board: 4

Volunteering is contagious. Sarah Villamayor says once you start, you’ll want to do it again and again.

Sarah caught the “fever” early. She and her mom moved several times, and wherever they lived, she says they looked for opportunities to volunteer. Then, during her college years, she was a leader in her community service sorority.

One of the things that inspired her to work at Independence is the company’s strong social mission. Not surprisingly, she became a Blue Crew volunteer shortly after she was hired, and she jumped at the chance to join the advisory board.

Making Volunteer Time Family Time

As a mom of two small children, Sarah loves that volunteering gives families a chance to share quality time together.

She particularly enjoys leading projects for adults and kids, like the annual Paws 4 Life Dog Walk fundraiser for Cancer Support Community Greater Philadelphia.

She has also supported Giving Tree Families, a non-profit that teaches children the value of service through adult-supervised projects such as writing thank-you notes to firefighters and assembling “sock rolls” with new socks and food for the homeless.

And every December, Sarah says something she looks forward to the most is also a favorite holiday tradition for many Independence employees — buying gifts for students at the Isaac A. Sheppard Elementary School.

Passion and Enthusiasm Can Make a Difference

Sarah’s personally witnessed the difference just one person can make — like the time one Blue Crew volunteer took the initiative to run a 50/50 raffle at a fundraising event for HealthLink Dental Clinic, something she was nervous to try at first.

Sarah notes this volunteer’s seemingly small effort made a significant difference, raising a few hundred extra dollars to help provide free dental care to low-income adults in suburban Philadelphia.

Sometimes, she says, one person’s passion and enthusiasm is all it takes to make good things happen.

We’re profiling members of the advisory board for our Independence Blue Cross (Independence) Corporate Volunteer Program — the Blue Crew. Blue Crew advisory board members lead individual projects, promote volunteerism, and evaluate and select the organizations, projects, and events our Blue Crew supports. Know an organization or a local event that could use enthusiastic volunteers? Contact the Blue Crew.

 

Mary Eileen O'Connor

My personal philosophy about health and well-being is to have simple goals and stick to them — whether it’s drinking more water, working in a few extra steps each day, or just making time to unplug. When I’m not busy writing creative content for a variety of audiences, my favorite ways to unwind include enjoying local arts and culture, reading a good book, and watching TV cooking shows.