Bert serves up sno-cones at the Personalist Center Grand Opening Block Party

Name: Alberta Seierstad

Goes by: Bert

Number of years with Sisters Of The Road: 21

Number of years on Sisters’ Board of Directors:
I will begin my third term in my third tenure on the Board of Directors in July 2009.

Board of Directors’ Committees: 

• 1990s – Executive Committee, Board Treasurer
• 1990s – Executive Committee, Board President
• 2005-2006 – Executive Committee, Board Secretary
2005-2009 – Community Development Council, Co-chair

Other Sisters Committees: 

• 1990s – Cafe Boogie (predecessor to the Hoedown) Planning Committee
• 2003-2004 – 25th Anniversary Planning Committee, Co-chair

What’s your story? / What do you do when you’re not volunteering with Sisters Of The Road?

I moved to Oregon in the Spring of 1987.  I’ve been involved with Sisters since 1988 when a friend and co-worker turned me on to Sisters’ meal coupons and then invited me to a Utah Philips concert being held at the Horse Brass Pub (this concert eventually evolved into the annual fundraiser known as Winterfolk).  That night I signed up to be a volunteer. 

My early volunteering included helping with the annual auction (then called Cafe Boogie) and volunteering in the Cafe when I could (although never as often as I would have liked to). Sometime in the 1990s a Board member who was also a member of the Cafe Boogie committee asked me to become a member of the Board of Directors and I eagerly jumped in. I have served several terms on the Board and have filled many roles.

Since the By-laws and Board of Director’s job description allow a maximum of three tenures on the Board of Directors, I will have to figure out how to best serve Sisters when my third term is up in 2011 – this is why I often refer to myself as “the Board member who never goes away”! 

I’m honored to be involved with Sisters and cherish the relationships I’ve developed with Sisters’ Board members, staff, customers and friends. I expect to continue to be involved with Sisters for a long, long time.