Leona with NCHBA Voluteer of the Year 2010 award

The oldest of three daughters, I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At a young age my family moved to Southern California, and settled in Fallbrook, California. Fallbrook is located near Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, where my father worked as a US Navy medical corpsman. He retired from the Navy and became a successful life insurance agent focused on young military families. My mother was a registered nurse and spent many years in hospice care. I learned about hospice care from my mother by helping her with my convalescent grandmother in our home.

I graduated from Fallbrook Union High School and I was active in my youth group at Fallbrook First Baptist Church. Camp outings and fellowship provided a great foundation for me. My passion for baking started early in life and grew while working with my mother in her home based catering, bakery, and cake decorating service. I won several blue ribbons for my cake decorating skills with entries in the San Diego County Fair, on of our nation’s largest county fairs. 

The values of service and compassion my parents instilled in me were tested in my jobs at Fallbrook Convalescent Hospital. I worked in the kitchen, preparing food, the laundry room, and in resident activities. Helping people remain positive and active. 

I learned customer service skills, production operations and management skills as a shift manager at our local McDonald’s restaurant in my later high school years. The teamwork and leadership skills acquired in this fast paced environment made a huge impact on my life. I also participated on the restaurant’s bowling team.

I was a member of The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls. In addition to volunteering and fundraising projects I learned the values of faith, hope and charity. I also gained skills in working with others as a team.

I attended Palomar Community College in San Marcos, CA where I studied child development and early education. While studying at Palomar College I worked as an inventory clerk with Alpha Beta Grocery stores. While working at Alpha Beta, I improved my customer service skills, learned product merchandising and basic inventory management.

While working at Alpha Beta, I met Ben Wolk, my future husband, we were married and started our family in Fallbrook. I soon became a full time mother, but found time to assist Ben with his landscape business, while raising our three children; Brittni, Erika and Ryan. I also provided day care, home cooked meals, and early education to several children, in addition to my own, while our children were young.

As the children grew, I was able to work outside our home on a part time basis. I worked at Flowers by Rhonda, processing and fulfilling orders for floral arrangements. I was responsible for walk in customers, phone in orders and corporate clientele, like the Fallbrook Hospital. At Flowers at Rhonda, I increased my design, color co-ordination, and arrangement abilities. My customer service skills improved with the wide range of customer situations and requests encountered in the retail floral business.

As a member of the Riverview Church and hospitality ministry I used my baking skills in the commercial kitchen to serve a congregation of 800 members. Food for charity and other occasions was also prepared.

When the opportunity to volunteer at the children’s school came up, I was ready. I assisted with in classroom and extra curricular activities. I also used my love for baking to supply classroom treats and donate to school fundraising events. When our oldest daughter was in the third grade our family re-located to East Wenatchee, Washington. To help the children in their new environment and to continue my interest in childhood education, I continued to volunteer at the new school, Cascade Elementary.

The Cascade Holiday Bazaar, a gift and craft fair held each November and the school’s biggest fundraiser was in need of new leadership. A new challenge for me, I was excited to get started as the new chairperson. Working with school officials, the PTO board, volunteers, vendors and the general public pushed my organizational and people skills to a new level. 

Attendance and revenues grew steadily by improving vendor relationships, communications and public relations under my leadership. To ensure consistency and continuity for the event, I created an operation manual that included timelines, procedures, advertising and floor layout maps. The bazaar had vacant vendor spots when I took over. From the second year forward all vendor booths were sold out. A waiting list was started in the third and each year afterward. I made great friends and sharpened my event management skills during the six years I chaired the Cascade Holiday Bazaar.