The Quintessential Volunteer

Submitted photo.

If someone who knows Pat Horvath were asked to give one word that epitomizes her, it would likely be laughter or work. Her laugh is unmistakable and legendary. So is her reputation as a hard worker. Years ago, when her husband, Arps, mentioned to a new neighbor that Pat cleaned the kitchens in the seven cottages at their Kangaroo Lake Resort with a toothbrush, the neighbor thought he was joking and laughed.

He was not joking. The cottages have been immaculate since the Horvaths bought the resort from Jannette and Catherine McArdle in 1978. And, yes, a toothbrush has played a prominent role. The three-plus acres of the resort are also lovingly tended (with increased assistance from Arps, since his retirement as a social studies teacher at Sevastopol in 2011), and so is their home, where longtime resort guests come and go like family.

More than enough work for any one woman – or two or three. But Pat has always done more. When her children, Kevin and Pieta, were Gibraltar students, she served for years on the Friends of Gibraltar (FOG) board of directors and was the instigator/organizer of the winter fruit sale that was the organization’s largest fundraiser, making it possible to offer extra arts/learning activities to students. She taught Sunday school for 11 years and was a Cub Scout and Brownie leader when her children were young. She is still involved with Loaves & Fishes in Northern Door, helping to serve monthly meals to anyone who wants or needs them.

In 1998, the Horvaths’ nest became empty when Pieta went off to college in Ohio, Pat needed something else to fill her heart and hands. She had grown up in a hard-working dairy family in Door County and completed a degree in social work at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (where she met Arps). When Habitat for Humanity advertised for its first paid staff position in 1999, it felt made to order for her.

The Habitat board agreed, although there was one member who, at the meeting where Pat was hired, was opposed to the paid position and led the group in a prayer focusing on the importance of volunteerism. “It felt as though there was a big neon arrow over my head,” Pat says now. “It may have been divine intervention.” A former board chair sees it differently: “My opinion is she was simply born to serve and serve she did.”

As it turned out, Pat would be an integral part of the backbone of Door County Habitat for Humanity for 15 years, working with at least nine organization chairs.

All of them will say that her salary never covered the hours she spent on Habitat business, and ultimately she chose to serve solely as a volunteer.

A former board chair says, “Pat’s tireless efforts in administrative roles kept the organization humming. She was there no matter if the task was marketing related, taking notes in endless meetings, volunteering at events or anything else. Over the years, board members, committee members and other volunteers cycled through this great organization. She has been the constant. Her perspective was always helpful and insightful.”

For many years, Pat’s home was Habitat’s office. She got the mail from their post office box, sorted and distributed it, responded to every letter, addressed envelopes, wrote the newsletter (often with tidbits of news about her beloved dogs, Gracie and Toby, who attended Habitat meetings with her), coordinated and managed volunteers’ activities and maintained several databases. In the years before the organization owned a Xerox machine, she sought out churches that would allow her to make copies. She organized the groundbreaking and dedication of each of the Habitat homes built during those years.

She organized special activities like the annual thank-you picnic for volunteers, seeking donations of food (and cooking herself), arranging dozens of wildflower bouquets for the tables (which one year all turned over in her car, requiring rearranging) and, literally, spilling the beans – a roaster full of them in the box the borrowed roaster came in that was dear to the owner’s heart.

Throughout all the 15 years Pat spent with Habitat, paid and unpaid, she did all the organization’s work at night, after she’d finished caring for the resort and its guests and attending to responsibilities related to extended family and friends. Her service reflects a belief that has guided her life. “I always told our kids,” she says, “if you’re feeling sad or upset, do something for someone else. It was because I was missing Pieta so much that I responded to Habitat’s ad in 1999.”

Rick Nelson, Habitat’s executive director from 2005 to 2014, characterizes Pat as “the quintessential volunteer – always willing to take on any project and to put in more time, always upbeat and enthusiastic, a wonderful person to work with.”

And Glen Rossman, a former Habitat board president, says, “I’m sure that Pat is an angel. She has been the thread that has held Habitat together for years.”

At the the Golden Heart Volunteer Celebration at Stone Harbor on April 23, Pat received the top recognition of the evening, the Lifetime Achievement Award for 15 years of service with Door County Habitat. She says she feels “humble and inadequate to be singled out in a room full of such good people.”

She continued, “I don’t want it to sound as if I was doing a job. It was not. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet and work with many, many people that I would have otherwise never have met. It makes me very uncomfortable to hear about what I’ve given. The experiences I have had with Habitat – or with any of the groups and individuals I’ve spent time with – have given me countless hours of joy and fulfillment.”

Because of the need to spend more time with family and friends, Pat ended her volunteer work with Habitat in 2014. The organization is now under the professional leadership of David Van Dyke, with great support from dedicated staff, volunteers, financial donors and partner families. Habitat has continued to evolve, attracting amazingly energetic and talented individuals.

Deeply humbled by her nomination and selection for the Lifetime of Service Aware, Pat views it as a reflection of the incredible folks who comprise Habitat’s Door County affiliate. She feels that her presence as the oldest nail in the toolbox is no longer necessary. Board members used to joke that she knew where the bodies were buried. “Now,” Pat says, “they can rest in peace!”