Volunteer Highlight
Rich Safris, Johnston
“I volunteer to remind myself how fortunate I am”. Rich works in the food pantry on Tuesday mornings from October through spring. He says he enjoys working with the other volunteers who are friendly and helpful. Rich finds that people are the most disappointed when we don’t have milk, eggs, or toilet paper on hand. Once, he recalled, when there was no milk, one women said, “Well, maybe I can find enough change in the glovebox to buy some.”
In the summer he and his wife of 50 years spend time at their cabin in Minnesota or with family including 3 children and 8 grandchildren. Rich is retired after a 40-year career as a teacher in Johnston, Urbandale and Des Moines.
His other volunteer jobs are as Head Judge for Odyssey of the Mind and Academic Decathlon. His hobby is carving gourds which he orders from California and Arizona. He gives the gourds as gifts to non-profit organizations to sell at silent auctions.
Thank you Rich, for all of your volunteering efforts!
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