The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
PAYING IT FORWARD
Woman gives back to the community she loves
It is very important to pay it forward because there is always someone less fortunate than you.
Those are the words of 65-year-old Joyce Snyder who has dedicated about a decade of service to the city of Elyria.
Snyder currently resides in Pittsfield Township, but was born and raised in Elyria.
“I love Elyria,” she said. “It’s where I was born and raised, it will always be my home.”
Before becoming a dedicated volunteer, Snyder worked as a recreation supervisor for 35 years with the Parks and Recreation Department in Elyria.
Snyder’s job is what cultivated her love of volunteering, she said.
“I started volunteering because of my job duties with the city of Elyria,” she said. “God gave me the talent to organize and that’s what I know how to do.”
Snyder is involved with St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, 320 Middle Ave. in Elyria, and has helped organize the St. Mary’s pierogi lunches for five years.
“The church needed someone to take over the pierogi lunches and it was decided that I would be a good person to take over,” she said. “They essentially passed the torch to me.”
She helps with preparation of the lunches which begin on Ash Wednesday and run for six Fridays, excluding Good Friday.
Snyder enjoys organizing
them because of the other volunteers she works with.
“Everybody pitches in and that’s what I love about the volunteers I work with,” she said. “They laugh, they have a good time. That’s what I want, I want it to be social.”
“We feed anywhere between 130 and 140 people a week,” Snyder said.
She has been involved with St. Mary’s for a total of nine years. She is a secretary for the church and a Eucharistic Minister, someone who assists the priest in administering
the sacrament of holy communion, the consecrated bread and wine.
Snyder also assists with St. Mary’s funerals.
“I help service funerals at the church,” she said. “I’m the only woman and have been trying to get other women involved.”
Aside from the volunteering at St. Mary’s, Snyder has volunteered as a secretary for the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, Lorain County chapter.
She created a 55 and over program called The Active People.
“We did everything from helping with fitness to help with taxes,” she said. “It is important to help older people in the community and treat them how you would treat anybody else.
“I think about myself because I would hope someone would help me the way I help people.”
Although Snyder helps out quite a bit in Elyria, she moved out of Elyria 10 years ago to Pittsfield.
While there, Snyder helped organize a group of people to fight the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which would have allowed for storage lakes of human waste in farmland behind them in the township.
“We beat them,” she said. “People say you can’t beat city hall, but if you are committed to what you feel isn’t right, you can beat them.”
Last year the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency pulled permits, Snyder said.
Since being involved with Pittsfield, Snyder was made representative of the Lorain County Office on Aging.
When not volunteering, Snyder can be found spending time with her two grandsons and husband of 40 years.
Snyder plans to continue to give back to the community she loves.
“Even though I live in Pittsfield, my heart will always be in Elyria,” she said.