Denise Hernandez, EPCAMR’s Part-Time Bookkeeper and Community Service Volunteer

Denise comes to EPCAMR through a reference and Professor from Luzerne County Community College, Dr. Brooke Yeager, who is a long-time supporter and friend of EPCAMR’s. It’s a very small world. She even knows some colleagues of the EPCAMR Executive Director’s through some AAU Sports Programs that her son is involved with in the City of Wilkes-Barre and they have some close friends that are only six degrees of separation apart from one another. She has plenty of experience in the Microsoft Office Suite and QuickBooks, which is a bonus. Dierdre Jolley, our former Part-time Bookkeeper has moved on from EPCAMR in an amicable way to a more long-term full-time accounting position in the Back Mountain. Denise has been able to fill her shoes quite well. Denise also has some familiarity with ArcGIS Suite (ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcToolbox-Verson 10) and other geospatial data management tools. She’s looking forward to volunteering with EPCAMR to learn more about our use of GIS and 3D Modeling of our underground mines throughout the Anthracite Region as a Volunteer, while being paid for a few hours out of the month to assist EPCAMR with Accounting and Bookkeeping principles, reconciliations, invoices, reimbursements, and data entry into our QuickBooks for Non-Profits Accounting Software.

She has previously worked for the Institute for Public Policy and Development, Wilkes-Barre, PA in the Fall of 2013 as an Intern. She is currently also working for the Good Shepard Lutheran Church, Wilkes-Barre, PA from April of 2007 to the present, where she is a Parish Secretary. She has previously worked at the Luzerne County Community College, Nanticoke, PA as an Administrative Assistant/Receptionist, so EPCAMR’s clerical duties are nothing new to her, although the type of work that we do to restore the environment is. She previously had been a Receptionist/Administrative Assistant for the Times-Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA as well. She has a very long and productive work history and is Bi-lingual in Spanish. EPCAMR is hoping to be able to provide her with some opportunities to work in the field with our Staff on projects and with students during some of our Summer and Fall Environmental Education Programs. Her ability to speak another language may come in handy as we continue to work with a very diverse student population within the coalfield communities and underserved school districts that we partner with. Denise excitedly said, “I am very excited to work with Robert and EPCAMR on environmental issues in the area that I’m not entirely familiar with. I’m like a sponge! I will eat up all the information that they will give me and experiences that the Staff are willing to share ! I’m looking forward to spending as much time with them over the Summer and Fall and hopefully thereafter, to gain some very valuable experiences and participate in some first hand community experiences to clean up the watersheds that have been impacted by AMD and abandoned mines”.

Robert stated, “I knew I liked her the second I met her because of her calm demeanor, her background, and her enthusiasm for wanting to obtain the position. I need someone who is as detail-oriented as I am for this position. We hit it off during the interview right away. She knew where I was coming from and I know where she wanted to go. Plus, it’s good to have another set of eyes on the books to cross-reference my check book register with the actual bank statements and Quickbooks, along with our Treasurer, and myself.” “Part-time work is just what she needed and we can provided her with a few hours a week, in addition to her wanting to become an active volunteer with EPCAMR because of her background and recent degree in Environmental Studies. I think she will benefit tremendously from working with EPCAMR and volunteering for other opportunities that we offer throughout the year where she can participate in to get a feel for the breadth and depth of work that a regional non-profit organization like ours does to improve our watersheds, rivers, streams, and land impacted by past mining practices.”

The post EPCAMR Brings on Denise Hernandez, Wilkes-Barre, PA as a Part-time Bookkeeper and Community Service Volunteer appeared first on epcamr.org.

Deirdre Jolley comes to us as a native of the Back Mountain, where she grew up.  After earning her Bachelor’s of Science in Marketing from Penn State University, she worked in the business world for many years.  She went on to earn her Masters of Science from Misericordia University in Organizational Management in 2008 and begin teaching business management as an adjunct instructor for Luzerne County Community College (LCCC) in the Business Department.  For nearly a decade, she worked for one of the larger non-profit health care institutions in the Wyoming Valley, Blue Cross of Northeastern PA, conducting outreach activities utilizing community involvement and public relations strategies to reach seniors and families with children that qualified for the Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) Program. After leaving the corporate world 3 years ago, Deirdre has recently started up her own business, Everything Equine, and has already established an excellent reputation in the horse community, where in additional to taking care of horses, she is actively performing book keeping and billing for her customers, along with continuing to be an instructor at LCCC.

Deirdre and family — husband, two sons, 4 dogs, and 2 horses, purchased a small farm in Sweet Valley last year.   New additions to the farm since then, include one more horse, a cat and 7 chickens.  Making the move to the farm has inspired her to join EPCAMR.  “Having this farm with my horses has been my dream since I was five years old”.  “Now I want to begin to fully educate myself on and understand environmental preservation; this position with the EPCAMR will be a great learning opportunity for me and I’m hoping to put in some volunteer time as well”.  Her husband, Jim, who works for the PA Game Commission, has been involved with EPCAMR over the years on many outdoor environmental education programs in partnership with the Luzerne Conservation District, particularly the Luzerne County EnviroThon and or other wildlife habitat improvement and land management projects on regional State Game Lands in our area.

Robert E. Hughes, Executive Director goes on to state, “Deirdre is someone that is familiar with the non-profit setting and accounting terms and principles, teaches business to local students, and runs her own small business, so I believe she understands how difficult it is for a non-profit organization as small as ours to stay afloat. Her expertise and years of experience are going to help us facilitate our recent jump in Staff and organizational capacity and grants management that have allowed us to grow both professionally and provide us with additional credibility given her degrees and her sincere commitment to helping to build us up. Right off the bat, on her first day of training and orientation, she’s off the races, like the horses at Mohegan Sun, updating our Vendor and Customer Databases with pertinent information that we have fell behind on over the years, acquiring additional account information that will prove helpful for future invoices, billing, and accounting purposes. She has also shown a great interest in learning more about how EPCAMR is restoring our environment from the impacts of past mining practices and given her conservation ethic to the land and her farm, I’m sure she will enjoy working and getting involved with our projects in the area to reclaim abandoned mine lands and remediate streams polluted by abandoned mine drainage (AMD). Welcome aboard, Deirdre!”

Deirdre Jolley, EPCAMR’s newest Part-Time Bookkeeper gets her profile picture taken in the brisk air at the Huber Miner’s Memorial Park with the Huber Breaker in the background outside the EPCAMR Office

The post EPCAMR brings on Back Mountain native, Deirdre Jolley, as a Part-time Bookkeeper to help keep our QuickBooks Accounting running smoothly appeared first on epcamr.org.