Meet Neighborhood Coordinator Sharon Collins

Having served as a neighborhood coordinator for PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro since its earliest days, Sharon Collins knows that rewards are built into the volunteer role. For example, neighborhood coordinators interact with neighbors they might otherwise never meet. 

“You make connections,” says Sharon, who lives in Lake Ellen but also picks up food in nearby North Forest Hills. “And connections are the key to life in many ways.” 

For 40 years, Sharon owned and operated Carrboro’s party supply store, Balloons and Tunes, with her wife, Pat Garavaglia – an environment ideal for making connections. It’s how she met PORCH’s three co-founders: Christine Cotton, Susan Romaine, and Debbie Horwitz. 

“My little business in Carrboro really created a wonderful life for me because I met so many fabulous people and was just able to network with our entire community,” she says. 

The couple sold the store to a new owner in 2021; Sharon has been focused on her volunteer work now that she is retired. More than 125 PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro neighborhood coordinators organize monthly food collections for a neighborhood, street, or geographic area. They are responsible for spreading the word about the designated day(s) for the monthly food drives, collecting donations from neighbors, and getting the non-perishable bags of food to PORCH so that it can be distributed to more than 700 local families. 

In addition to PORCH, Sharon and Pat are heavily involved with Friends of Orange County DSS, which provides holiday gifts, back-to-school supplies, and emergency funds to families living below the poverty line. 

Sharon has also started volunteering at PORCH’s Community Hub, helping to sort the food she picks up from neighbors. (In November, she collected a record-breaking 281 pounds!) 

“When you do for others, you do for yourself more,” Sharon says. 

Sharon relishes her role as neighborhood coordinator, offering encouragement in her monthly reminder emails, sending photos of her van full of food on PORCH day, and leaving sweet treats such as chocolates on neighbors’ doorsteps as she makes her rounds. She was moved to learn that a neighbor recently hosted a holiday party and asked guests to bring non-perishable items for PORCH. 

“The easier you make everything, the better it is – because people want to participate,” Sharon says. “But we all have very complex lives. And so the easier you can make it, the more participation you get. And that’s how I approach it.” 

Pat and Sharon enjoy going from store to store, looking for deals on items PORCH needs, such as jarred pasta sauce and cereal, so that they can donate a few bags of food each month. 

“We forget that there are people in our community who need our support,” Sharon says. “And when we can afford to do it, it’s incumbent upon us to support our fellow citizens.” 

We are currently seeking Neighborhood Coordinators in communities all around Chapel Hill and Carrboro. If your neighborhood doesn’t have a Neighborhood Coordinator, would you or someone you know want to help fill this role? This is a great leadership opportunity for students! Prospective NCs can reach out to us at chc@porchcommunities.org. You can pass along the link to our Neighborhood Coordinator information page, which gets into the nuts and bolts of what NCs do; it includes this very handy video.