Ronda Bollwahn, a Salvation Army officer in the United States for 33 years, is currently based in Alexandria, Virginia. Throughout her work at the Salvation Army, Ronda has been involved with volunteers, both on the local level and in administration. She was the Divisional Volunteer Director in St. Louis in the early 70s. She also recruited volunteers when she moved on as the Divisional Girl Guard Director. With 52 troops, Ronda was involved in all aspects of scouting, including the training of troop leaders, office help, and camp volunteers.
In Chicago, she supervised the Head Start and Child Care Centers as well as 10 senior feeding sites and had two advisory boards, all of which used volunteers. Ronda was the Divisional League of Mercy Director, in charge of a program that trains and recruits volunteers for nursing homes, hospitals and children's homes throughout the division, located in southern Illinois and eastern Iowa. Later Ronda became the Divisional Women's Ministry Director. She planned retreats, training workshops and camps, all using volunteers.
She was next appointed to Chicago Territorial Headquarters (covering 11 central states) to be the Territorial Volunteers Director. It was during that period that she completed her Master's of Volunteer Administration from Norwich University. During that time, she also received the AVA Individual Service Award.
After five years at the Territorial level, Ronda was transferred to The Salvation Army National Headquarters, where she now is the National Consultant for Volunteers. During that time, the Salvation Army National Volunteer Guidelines Manual was published. As part of her responsibilities, Ronda is involved in Train the Trainers in the four territories, and she conducts workshops, coordinates volunteer activities in the territories, and partners with many non-profits to support such ventures and Make a Difference Day, Join Hands Day, etc. She also represents The Salvation Army to many affiliate groups, such as The National Assembly, The Points of Light Foundation and America's Promise. She is currently working on a project with UPS. "We just received a grant that will help us complete a volunteer training project that will be beneficial to the SA throughout the USA, especially our local units," Ronda says
