Bridgewater Volunteer an 'Outstanding Woman'

She has a hard time saying no, and figures if she has the time she might as well help others.

And for that reason, and the many hours she spends on volunteering, Nancy Yuzuik, of Bridgewater, has been named one of Somerset County’s Outstanding Women of 2012.

“I was very proud, and very surprised,” she said of receiving the award. “I just feel like we’re meant to help other people, and I can’t imagine not doing that.”

Nancy Yuzuik will receive her award, along with the other recipients throughout the county, at a special dinner hosted by the county’s Commission on the Status of Women Friday at The Imperia in Somerset.

Yuzuik has been volunteering at several different organizations for years, with a special focus on helping those in the armed forces.

As a volunteer with Operation Jersey Cares, Yuzuik has served as treasurer and mailing officer for the organization that sends care packages to troops in Afghanistan and other locations overseas.

“If you see the emails we get from the people in Afghanistan, they don’t get three meals a day, they’re living off the boxes we’re sending,” said Yuzuik, who added that she would love to read one of those letters out loud during her acceptance speech at the dinner. “My motto is never should one generation forget another. It is a special breed of people, especially the Marine Corps guys.”

Yuzuik said she has always been very patriotic, with her husband, Joseph, having served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, as well as her brothers serving the country too.

“I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for veterans,” she said. “I had one brother in the Army, another in the reserves.”

In addition to this work, Yuzuik is also a volunteer with the Greater Somerset County Red Cross, where she teaches CPR and first aid, and organizes blood drives with her husband.

“We do them by going to companies and schools,” she said.

Yuzuik said she feels a special tie with the American Red Cross because the organization brought her husband back from Vietnam after his sister got in a bad car accident years ago. She said she has been with the organization for 20 years, and loves the work she does.

A health and physical education teacher at Bound Brook High School for 33 years before she retired five years ago, Yuzuik said she taught CPR and first aid as part of junior health.

“The Red Cross needed volunteers at the chapter, and so I started teaching,” she said. “When I retired, I thought it would be a good idea to work on blood drives, so I work reception while my husband does refreshments.”

“We’ve been to four schools for drives this year, and I like working with kids,” she added. “I have a pretty good rapport with them after teaching for so long.”

But her volunteer work does not stop there.

Yuzuik said that while she was teaching at Bound Brook High School, she was the teacher liaison to the committee that ran the Bound Brook High School Hall of Fame.

“We induct graduates for lifetime achievement, for example one who was a New Jersey Supreme Court Justice,” she said. “And we put in a staff member each year.”

Now that she is retired, Yuzuik said, she continues to work with the Hall of Fame committee each year.

“I had no qualms about retiring because I knew I would have things to do,” she said. “I can’t imagine sitting around all day and doing nothing.”

For Yuzuik, she loves having the opportunity to volunteer wherever she can.

“I have what I need, and I have enough so I’m comfortable,” she said. “We have time and can help people, so why not? It’s very rewarding.”

In addition to the three main projects she works on, Yuzuik also hosts lunches at the Somerville Elks, aided her husband in bringing the to Bridgewater and much more. She helped at shelters during Hurricane Floyd in 1999, and was out with buckets during Irene.

“Fortunately my husband and I are both retired, so we work hand in hand,” she said.

And Yuzuik said she also loves her community, where she has lived for 15 years. She said she loves that the neighborhood is the kind where kids can play outside, and they have picnics and gatherings with the neighbors.

Plus, Yuzuik said, the town is close to everything.

“It is an hour from the city, an hour from the beach,” she said. “There is everything I need, and I like my neighborhood too.”

Yuzuik said she is looking forward to meeting the other women being honored by the county for their service, and she is proud and honored to be among them.

“But I never do things just for recognition,” she said. “I’m a worker bee, and I like to work behind the scenes.”

The other award recipients are Debbie Kirsch, of Bernardsville, and Nicole D’Angelo, of Warren, for arts and entertainment; , of Bridgewater for athletics; , of Bridgewater, as Hometown Hero; Carleen Kelly, of Bernards, for business management; Janet Camargo Wahba, of Somerville, for education; Diana Kramer, Ph.D., of Bernardsville, as an entrepreneur; Sherry Frawley, of Bernardsville, for environmental initiatives; Raritan Borough Council woman Stefanie J. Gara and Kathleen O’Brien, of Branchburg, for government and public service; Joanne Liscovitz, of Hillsborough, and Patti Sofran-Herrling, of Franklin, also as hometown hero; Susan R. Rubright, Esq., of Gladstone, for law; Andrea Gaito, M.D., FACR, of Bernards, and Barbara Ronca, Ph.D., MSW, LCSW, of Bridgewater, for medicine and health; Suzann B. Goldstein, of Warren, for public service; Katie Meyler, of Bernardsville, for social services; and Barbara Marchio, of Gladstone, for volunteerism.