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Highlands Today

'A Great Volunteer'

Jasmina Meyer, Highlands Today

Mary Strenth works as an investigator for local Attorney William Fletcher on Commerce Avenue in Sebring. Strenth won the Salvation Army Volunteer of the Year award last month.

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By BILL ROGERS

Highlands Today

Published: March 30, 2009

SEBRING - Mary Strenth was named The Salvation Army Volunteer of the Year and received a plaque, but she was quick to share the credit with her husband, Robert.

"I just feel like a lot of the volunteering I'm doing would not be possible without my husband," she said.
Strenth is the second winner of The Salvation Army's volunteer award, which was presented last month during a luncheon at the Sebring Civic Center.

"I felt very honored to be chosen," Strenth said. "I enjoy doing what I can for the community."

The award was based on her selflessness of time and effort and involvement in other things, according to Major Mary Holmes of The Salvation Army.

"She has just been a great volunteer," Holmes said. "When she takes a job on, she gets it done."
Strenth got started in The Salvation Army about four years ago and became a member of the board of directors.

She organized the Circle of Cans, collecting canned goods for The Salvation Army and getting bell ringers in the streets off the Sebring Circle.

"It's really rewarding," Strenth said of her involvement with the organization. "It's amazing when you are on the Circle, ringing the bell, the people that have the ritzy vehicles and everything, they could pass you by. But you know the ones who don't have the extra money, they are ones who are donating."

Mary and Robert are members of the Sebring Noon Rotary Club's Relay for Life team that is raising money for the Sebring event set April 25 and 26.

"We have been having a lot of fundraisers, barbecue fundraisers, and getting money for our team," she said. "We're doing it together."

A cancer survivor for five years, the Relay for Life to raise money for cancer research is especially important to her.

"I hadn't been diagnosed in March of '04, when they had that Relay," Strenth said, noting that she had gone for tests but hadn't learned the results. "We're walking around that night (during the luminary ceremony), and I said 'hopefully, my name will be on a bag next year in honor of and not in memory of,' " she said.

"Each year we get more involved," she said. "We're on the Survivor Committee. Last year, he (Robert) did all the cooking for it."

Mary said it is important to do everything possible "so hopefully there will be research if my kids happen to get it."

On July 1, Strenth will become president of the Sebring Noon Rotary Club. She will also become vice president of the Board of Community Service, which is involved in community and organizing fundraisers.

A native of Sebring, Mary graduated from Sebring High School (Robert is an Avon Park High graduate), South Florida Community College and Rollins College in Winter Park, with a degree in criminal justice.

She worked for the Department of Juvenile Justice for many years. She is now an investigator for Sebring attorney Bill Fletcher.

Bill Rogers may be reached at wrogers@highlandstoday.com

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