A Celebration of Beyond Boobs! Volunteers
“Volunteers are love in motion.” Unknown
Beyond Boobs! volunteers are the best and every day they give their best to our Boobers! We are overjoyed to have such an amazing group of volunteers, and it is because of them that the young women we serve have hope for the future, inspiration to overcome, and the power to thrive.
April 10-16 is National Volunteer Week, but we have been blessed with so many wonderful volunteers that we want to celebrate all month long! Stay tuned to the blog as we recognize Joanne, Chaunai, Kim, and Ben for the incredible work they do every day for BB!
Check us out for Beyond Boobs! volunteer opportunities. The more the merrier!
Ben Smykowski lost his wife, Betty Anne, to ovarian cancer in 2014 and he volunteers with Beyond Boobs! in her memory. “Betty Anne was such a great person,” he said. “She was the love of my life and my soul mate. Volunteering is my way of honoring her.”
Ben is retired from the IT industry after 45 years and volunteers at the BB! office in Williamsburg every week. He worked on BB!’s website to help get all of their information into Salesforce, a cloud computing program. Normally he is a member of the Tuesday Tag Team (T3s), but he is on call 24/7 if a need should arise.
“The women at BB! make me laugh,” Ben said. “I admire them so much, especially after all they have been through.”
In addition to his volunteer gig at BB!, Ben also volunteers three days a week at the front desk at Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center. Before she passed away, Betty Anne worked at Cullom Eye & Laser Center as a medical records person, and Ben volunteers at the Doctors’ Surgery Center every Thursday when Dr. Cullom is performing cataract and LASIK surgeries. “Everyone there still talks about her,” Ben said. “They even have the slogan WWBD - What would Betty do?”
This year Ben is the presenting sponsor for BB!’s annual “Breast” Ball Golf Tournament, donating the money in Betty Anne’s memory. “I can’t do enough for Beyond Boobs!,” he said. “I love the organization and everyone involved is so dedicated.”
Ben is the father of two grown children and has a 13-year-old granddaughter. He lives in Williamsburg and is very active with his church.