Because We Are Catholic: 'When you give from the heart, you reap the benefits’

Betty Milore

On any given day, you might find Betty Milore at her volunteer job, directing the food pantry that feeds the hungry in the McAdoo, Schuylkill County, area.

She might be meeting a delivery truck, or supervising Catholic school students doing their required community service work, or filling out applications for state and federal grants to buy much-needed supplies.

Or she might be at her other job, coordinating the eight Catholic cemeteries in the region, a post for which she is on-call 24-7.

Or she might be doing one of her many “spare time” activities, like organizing community yard sales to benefit the needy, wrangling cakes at bake sales, or soliciting donations for all manner of worthy causes.

“I guess I’m a professional volunteer,” she says with a chuckle, taking a break from her cemetery duties at All Saints Parish, McAdoo. “That’s what I’ve always considered myself. I just like volunteering. I always have.”

There are not many volunteer tasks that Milore, 75, has not been involved with over the years, at various parishes and working with 12 different pastors. She’s also a former volunteer Catechism teacher. “I still run into kids who remember me from those days,” she says.

“When you give from the heart, you reap the benefits,” Milore says, reflecting on decades of service to others. “I guess it’s in my blood. And my three children are volunteers too!”

“Because We Are Catholic” tells the stories of how the people of the Diocese of Allentown make a difference in the lives of others, bringing the Light of Christ to each other and to our community.