It’s often difficult, in this workaday world of ours, to juggle the many demands on our time: work, family, community. When push comes to shove, many of us feel that we can’t balance it all, and often it’s community service that drops off the list.

Meet five women who have made the commitment to keep community service in their lives, either through career choices or volunteer work.

When Joleen Palmer first looked at the five-acre piece of land that is now the Stillwaters Environmental Educational Center, the plan that she and Stillwaters co-founder Naomi Massberg had was to establish a women’s retreat center there. But as their plans evolved, that idea changed.

“We began to think that having an environmental educational center would make more sense,” said Palmer, Stillwaters’ program director. Today the center, which opened in 1999, offers environmental educational programs centered on the educational center’s eco-system and the area watershed.

Palmer’s background is in teaching and community building, including an undergraduate degree in education, five years of elementary school teaching experience, two years of work with the Peace Corps in the Philippines, and working for a Lutheran social service agency that focused on addressing homelessness in the Seattle-Tacoma area.

“The work I did [at the social service agency] shaped a lot of how I perceive the economy in several ways and led me to a lot of the work I do today,” said Palmer, noting that the work raised many questions for her about sustainability – both economical, environmental, and social.

Although Stillwaters’ focus in on the environment, rather than social service, Palmer points out that the nature of the center is community-based, so the focus on helping people is still there.

“We all have a watershed address whether we know it or not,” said Palmer. “Our programs help people to begin to understand our place in nature. Everything is connected, organic.”

When Lori Oberlander and her husband moved to Kitsap County in 1996, Oberlander didn’t have a job or know anyone. And so she became a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity of Kitsap County.

“I’ve learned that when you move into a new community, if you want to make it your own, you volunteer,” said Oberlander. She chose Habitat for Humanity because she had read an article about the organization and was impressed by their work.

Back then the newly affiliated organization was not yet building houses, so Oberlander helped out in other ways, first by standing outside the Habitat for Humanity office in the South Kitsap Mall, talking to shoppers about the organization, then doing accounting work and helping with fundraising and grant writing.

“It just grew and grew and grew,” said Oberlander. “Once you get involved you get bit by the Habitat bug. ‘Habititis,’ we call it.”

When the organization began hiring staff in 1999 Oberlander applied for the position of executive director and was hired. Now she manages a staff that consists of a full-time construction manager, a part-time volunteer coordinator, two full-time Americorp VISTA volunteers, and a quarter-time bookkeeper.

The organization normally builds between five and seven homes in the last two years. Oberlander is currently involved in overseeing the application process for New Hope, a new 18-home planned development in Bremerton, which will take between 18 months and 2 years to complete.

“I can’t imagine doing anything other than Habitat,” Oberlander said. “No two days are ever alike.”

Jennifer Green, the executive director of the Kitsap Community Foundation (KCF), a non-profit organization that partners with donor/investors to create and maintain endowments and award endowment-funded grants to qualified non-profit organizations, has spent the last 10 years working in the non-profit sector, although her original professional experience was in management in the for-profit natural foods industry.

A Washington native with a degree in Russian/Soviet Studies and Community Studies from The Evergreen College in Olympia, Green decided to make the move from for-profit to non-profit because she saw it as a way for her to more fully support the arts, environment, and human service organizations that she spent time volunteering for.

Green began her nonprofit career as a development specialist at the Seattle-King County Chapter of the American Red Cross in 1996. She and her spouse moved to Kitsap County in 1998, and she worked as the director of development and community relations for the YWCA of Kitsap County from 1999 until 2003. Green joined the Kitsap Community Foundation in February 2004.

“I learned about the Kitsap Community Foundation about three years ago and was intrigued with the concept of building endowments to support community needs for the long-term,” said Green.

Since 1999 KCF has awarded more than $250,000 in grants. Green notes that community spirit and generosity has helped make this possible. “I’ve been continuously impressed by the level of commitment and generosity here in Kitsap County.”

Catherine Ann Wolf is one person who believes in commitment and generosity. A busy CPA, Wolf has still managed to find the time to devote an average of 15 to 20 hours a month to various community activities since opening her accounting firm in Belfair in 1996. Wolf is currently the vice president of the North Mason Chamber of Commerce, and is the chamber’s past treasurer.

“I believe that the partnerships we develop with the education, social, and environmental interests in our community are an important aspect to our economic development,” said Wolf.

Wolf’s past community involvement includes serving as a member of the Belfair-Subarea Planning Committee and the Lower Hood Canal Sewer Advisory Committee. Her first volunteer work in the community was as a founding board member for the local Boys and Girls Club, filing for and obtaining the organization’s non-profit status with the IRS.

“I believe in giving to and serving the community in ways that will benefit both businesses and residents alike,” she said. “The community has been very supportive of my business and in return I would like to be supportive of my community. Community involvement is important to me because a community can only thrive if it is supported by people that see beyond today and into tomorrow.”

In recognition of Wolf’s dedication to her community, she has received several awards, including the North Mason Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year in 2003 and the Mason County American Businesswomen of the Year in 2004.

Marcia Williams, of Gig Harbor, runs Russ Haydon Shooter’s Supply with her husband, a mail-order business that sells re-loading equipment and other merchandise for high-accuracy rifle marksmen. She has also spent the last five years on the Peninsula HAWKS Scholarship Fund committee, serving as its president for the last three years or so. The fund, which is celebrating its 20th year, administers scholarship awards to Peninsula high school students who are planning on pursuing any form of higher education after graduation.

Fund volunteers coordinate the application process and provide the students’ application portfolios to the scholarship donors, which range from area businesses to local service organizations to family memorials. The scholarships awarded range from $100 to a four-year renewable $10,000 scholarship. The fund administers close to $200,000 worth of scholarships a year.

The fund also runs the SAVE Thrift Store in Purdy, open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. In addition to the 8 to 10 hours a week Williams spends on Fund activities, such as coordinating meetings, overseeing publicity, and managing application process, she normally volunteers once a week at the store, although she has cut back on that commitment for a short time. Proceeds from the thrift store are used to fund around $40,000 to 50,000 worth of scholarships each year.

Williams, like the majority of the other 25 or so scholarship fund volunteers, is a parent of high school students. She became involved with the fund when her oldest started high school.

“I was a counselor at Peninsula when the fund was started in 1984. I was so impressed with the work [the founding parents] did that I decided when my own children were in high school I wanted to be a part of it,” she said.

With one child a recently graduated senior and one starting freshman year this fall, Williams anticipates being a part of the fund committee for several years to come.

“We always say when your kids graduate high school you can graduate from the committee,” she laughed.