Our February Aide of the Month, Yolanda Bollar, has had a long career in helping others. She has been a part of the Blossom family for almost nine years, and before that, she worked at Senior Life for around twelve years. Originally from Florida, Yolanda moved to Rochester when she was eleven years old. She is married and has three daughters and one son who has passed away, an adorable grandson, and pet shorkie (a shih tzu/yorkie mix).
Yolanda loves working with people and taking care of them. She enjoys doing a variety of activities with her clients from gardening to crafts and having deep discussions. Yolanda’s family is what motivates her to do her very best for her clients, “I have three young ladies that look up to me. So, I try to put my best foot forward for them and for my grandbaby as well.” Yolanda believes people deserve to be cared for and respected. “…the people deserve it. There’s too many people not caring in the world. You know, they got, my clients, they have a lot of things going on. They need to know somebody’s gonna be there for them and I always try to be there for them.”
In addition to her love of helping others, Yolanda was drawn to Blossom because of our history. Al Gauvin founded this company after he could not find care for his sister who had breast cancer and eventually passed away from the disease. Yolanda was inspired by Al’s desire to help not only his sister, but other families struggling to find care and wanted to become a part of a company that is dedicated to compassion. She also admires how Blossom has handled all the challenges of the pandemic as well as all the incredible work done by our current CEO, Chris Gauvin. “I think he’s been doing a great job since he took over for his dad. A lot of times when, you know, the founders or the parents leave the company, the kids don’t always hold the same respect for it that they did, but I think he’s been doing a great job, especially having to deal with the pandemic.”
When she is not working, Yolanda enjoys crafting and spending time with her family. She loves working with resin, sewing, and experimenting with her Cricut to make designs on things like shirts and bags. Yolanda also loves playing with her grandson who is a precious bundle of energy. Blossom is lucky to have a compassionate, caring, and creative individual like Yolanda on our team.