A Lifetime Of Volunteering

Inspiration is a funny thing.  It’s different for each of us.  For some, it comes easily.  For others, not so much.

For Jerene Battisti, inspiration came in the form of a woman who visited her Children’s Literature class in college to read, “Thy Friend Obadiah.”  The experience was so powerful that Battisti went out and bought the book, and still has it today.

“I was blown away,” says Battisti.  “I knew right then and there that that’s what I wanted to do.”

Battisti went on to receive her Master’s Degree in Library Science with an emphasis in Children’s Literature.  Her first job was as Children’s Librarian at Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, where she traveled all over town bringing stories to life for hundreds of inner-city children.

“The children used to wait on the corner and watch for my car,” she recounts.  “And then chase it when I appeared.”

Battisti says the experience of working with less fortunate children shaped her idea of giving back.  She returned to the Northwest to take a position in Bellevue and began volunteering for Children’s Hospital Orthopedic Guild.  Eventually, she joined the board, serving for 15 years.

“I think the difference for me was when we would take tours with the nurses and see the children,” she says. 

Battisti began a Guild of her own when she and her husband moved to Lake Tapps Island for a time, and is even active today.  But Battisti hasn’t restricted her volunteering to the medical arena.  She says volunteering is something she’s programmed for and that, “any time you volunteer, it comes back to you tenfold.”

Over the years, she’s devoted countless hours to her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, even serving as a traveling consultant, visiting 32 campuses to help girls acclimate to the rigors of the sorority.  She’s raised money for a variety of organizations, beginning when her son was in a preschool where parents are expected to volunteer.  Battisti generated the idea for an art show and auction at the school that raised a lot of money.

”Raising money is the biggest challenge,” Battisti smiles. 

But when her son went on to public schools, Battisti just continued on, joining the PTA and raising money for school projects.  In 1998, she joined Renton Rotary, where she and her father became the first father and daughter Rotarian team. 

“When I attended Renton High School, I was selected as a Rotarian Youth of the Month,” Battisti remembers, “and so it meant a lot to me to be in Rotary with my father.”

Once she joined Rotary, Battisti took volunteering to a whole new level.  As a Rotarian, she has been Program Chair, Membership Chair and sat on the board for three years.  She’s served for eight years on the Youth of the Month Committee, supplied books for RotaCare and volunteered for over 10 years for Rotary’s main fundraising event, the C.A.P.E.R. auction.

Eventually, Battisti would spend 14 years working for the Renton Library, and currently serves as the Education and Teen Services Coordinator for the King County Library in Issaquah.  She has spent a lifetime supporting children and education, so it’s no surprise that a friend from Rotary would recruit her to the board of Renton Technical College Foundation, where she now supports scholarships for people trying to make a better life.

“I’m passionate about education and Renton,” admits Battisti proudly. 

Decades ago, Jerene Battisti was inspired to change the lives of children through the stories she would tell.

Today, the power of her own story has changed a myriad of lives through a lifetime of volunteering.