Thanks to two longtime Schreiber volunteers

Around Schreiber, we have a shorthand for talking about Tina Edgell and Patty Watson.

Tina and Patty. Or sometimes Patty and Tina. It may as well be PattyTina.

For most of the past 20 years, Tina and Patty have been reliable Schreiber volunteers. It’s not a stretch to say they are among the most dedicated of all of our amazing volunteers, and that’s saying something.

We wanted to take the time this week, during National Volunteer Week, to tell the Schreiber community about their support of Schreiber.

So it turns out their involvement started with the old Schreiber Buck-A-Cup campaign. (By the way, we’re bringing that back this year, right now, and you can learn more about how to participate here.

Tina was the first sister to connect with Schreiber. She and her family owned then (and still do now) the Histsoric Revere Tavern restaurant.

“I was president of the Lancas County chapter of the Pennsylvannia Restaurant Association,” Tina said. “We used to be really involved in the Buck-A-Cup campaign. I chaired that event for a few years. I would help get all the Lancaster restaurants involved and put the materials together and everything. And we did BINGO (fundraisers) here for many years.

“There was a man named Wilmer Lapp. He was the one with the restaurant association who told me how important Schreiber was and what we had to do. He was the one who instillied my passion for Schreiber.”

After leading Buck-A-Cup in the 1980s, she started volunteering at the Gala and then at Duckie. In 1998, after Patty and her husband moved back to Lancaster, Tina recruited her sister into the Schreiber family.

“At that time, Tina was volunteering for the Duckie Race,” Patty said. “She said, ‘You want to come with us?'” And that’s where it all began for me.”

At Gala, they have registered guests together for at least the past 10 years. At Duckie, you can find them running the information tent on the day of the race, overseeing ticket and merchandise sales, working with Schreiber staff and just making sure things run smoothly.

“The Duckie Race is my all-time favorite,” Tina said. “Because we see so many of the (Schreiber) kids coming in that day. It truly is a kid event.”

That’s what keeps Patty coming back, too.

“The kids,” she said. “They’re so awesome. You see the smile on their faces. And you see kids come back year after year. Like Carly Long. To see her grow up through the years, and to see how much she benefitted from Schreiber’s services, is just amazing.”

The Schreiber spirit soon seeped into the next generation. Children in both of their families became volunteers. And Patty’s daughter Erica switched her college major from accounting to speech therapy because of Erica’s time volunteering and working as a counselor at Camp Schreiber.

Schreiber can get in your blood. It’s not something either one of the sisters want to give up anytime soon.

It’s so rewarding,” Patty said. “I’m going to keep doing it until I’m in a walker and can’t make it anymore.”

“You’re stuck with us,” Tina said.

Around Schreiber, we wouldn’t want it any other way.