Foundation Report
PARTNERS IN ACTION
VTO Spotlight
Union Home Mortgage Partners are encouraged to take part in their communities, which is
why every Partner has volunteer paid time o hours they can use each year to give back. We
wanted to highlight a few Partner impact stories and how our Partners used their time for the
betterment of their community and organizations that are close to their hearts.
to reach a
Crisis Counselor with Crisis Text
National Suicide Prevention
Lifeline at
There are also many resources
on the American Foundation for
Suicide Prevention website –
There are plenty of volunteer
opportunities available if you’d
Amy Pettigrew
Many organizations had to halt their volunteer opportunities in 2020 due to COVID-19, but that didn’t
stop Amy and her family from giving back and making a dierence. What makes Amy’s volunteering
extra special to her? Doing it with her kids by her side. When asked why Amy gives back like she does,
she said “My older daughters are in high school and I want to teach them to give back to their community. I
want them to experience that even as kids, they can have an impact on making the world a better place.”
As a family, Amy and her daughters baked goods for their Senior Citizen Center in Roanoke, Texas
and baked homemade desserts for their local Fire and Police Departments in Southlake, Texas. They
helped bag lunches this summer and dropped them o to local apartment complexes for an organization
called . Most kids don’t get enough food during the summer because they don’t get
the free or reduced school lunches, so this is a way for kids to get nutritious food even while at home.
Their favorite place to volunteer as a family is the because her kids
love the animals! They clean the cages, bathe the animals and play with them to make them feel
more at home. On her own, Amy volunteers with a Battered Women’s Shelter locally. Recently, she did
Zoom sessions with women that are escaping domestic violence. She listened to what they had to say,
checked up on them and talked about their future goals and dreams.
Jim Ford
Jim Ford lost his father and two cousins to suicide and
knew he needed to get involved to help prevent suicide
and to remove the stigma around mental health. He
now volunteers with the
Crisis Text Line and does his
own social media outreach to raise awareness.
He volunteers with the AFSP GA Board, Co-Chairing
the Loss and Healing Committee to organize and put
on two events – a candlelight vigil for World Suicide
Prevention Day (Sept. 10th) and Survivor Loss Day (Nov.
21st). Also, through AFSP, he is a healing conversations
volunteer where he talks or meets with those who
have lost a loved one to suicide to provide support
and comfort. He also participated in their Overnight
Walk and will be participating in their Out of the Darkness
Walk, fundraising for both events.
He has volunteered with Crisis Text Line since July of
2016 as a Crisis Counselor, spending an average of 5+
hours a week assisting those who are in any type of
crisis. Since he started volunteering with Crisis Text
Line, he has volunteered a total of 1,191 hours and has
had 3,756 conversations.
Through his own personal network, he uses social
media platforms to help raise awareness and support
by doing weekly Monday Mental Help Update videos
since May of 2019. Jim Ford lives by this quote “Your
career is what you’re paid for. Your calling is what
you’re made for.” Jim Ford was called to be an advocate
of suicide prevention.
American Foundation of
Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
Humane Society of North Texas