Skip to header Skip to main content Skip to footer
Helpful Village logo
Add me to your mailing list
Youtube channel Facebook page
Header image for Pasadena Village showing nearby mountains and the logo of the Pasadena Village

Blog archive

October 2024

ARBORIST WALK: NOT FOR TREE HUGGERS ONLY!
10/29/2024

Bill Wishner: Visual Hunter
10/29/2024

Can a Village Group Fix Our Healthcare System?
10/29/2024

Community Board Directors Strengthen Village Board
10/29/2024

Connecting with Village Connections: The A, B, C, & D’s of Medicare @ 65+
10/29/2024

Grief is a Journey: Two Paths Taken
10/29/2024

Message from the President
10/29/2024

Promoting Informed & Involved Voters
10/29/2024

What Will Be Your Legacy?
10/29/2024

1619, Approaching the Election...
10/27/2024

Beyond and Within the Village - A Star is Born
10/17/2024

Happiness by Priscilla Leonard
10/11/2024

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
10/11/2024

Unpainted Door by Louise Gluck
10/11/2024

In the Evening by Billy Collins
10/10/2024

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
10/10/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

September 2024

August 2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

First Anniversary
08/19/2024

Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen
08/16/2024

Muse des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
08/16/2024

The God Abandons Antony by Constantinos P. Cavafy
08/16/2024

Ch – Ch – Ch –Changes
08/15/2024

Cultural Activities Team offers an ‘embarrassment of riches’
08/15/2024

Engaging in Pasadena Village
08/15/2024

Future Housing Options
08/15/2024

Message from the President
08/15/2024

There Are Authors Among Us
08/15/2024

Villagers Welcome New Members at the Tournament Park Picnic
08/15/2024

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
08/14/2024

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
08/13/2024

Haikus
08/13/2024

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
08/13/2024

Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda
08/13/2024

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
08/13/2024

Trees by Joyce Kilmer
08/13/2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready?
05/28/2024

Farewell from the 2023/24 Social Work Interns
05/28/2024

Gina on the Horizon
05/28/2024

Mark Your Calendars for the Healthy Aging Research California Virtual Summit
05/28/2024

Meet Our New Development Associate
05/28/2024

Putting the Strategic Plan into Practice
05/28/2024

Washington Park: Pasadena’s Rediscovered Gem
05/28/2024

Introducing Civil Rights Discussions
05/22/2024

Rumor of Humor #2416
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2418
05/14/2024

Springtime Visitors
05/07/2024

Freezing for a Good Cause – Credit, That Is
05/02/2024

No Discussion Meeting on May 3rd
05/02/2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing
05/01/2024

Flintridge Center: Pasadena Village’s Neighbor That Changes Lives
05/01/2024

Pasadena Celebrates Older Americans Month 2024
05/01/2024

The 2024 Pasadena Village Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
05/01/2024

Woman of the Year: Katy Townsend
05/01/2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

Volunteering is at The Heart of the Village

By Sue Addelson
Posted: 03/25/2024
Tags: sue addelson

Bruce Christiansen is a computer whiz. Dan Guerrero loves to drive cars. Both men generously share their specialties with fellow Pasadena Villagers as Tech Time volunteers, volunteer drivers, and on several leadership committees.

They’re in good company. More than half of Pasadena Villagers also volunteer in various capacities.

“Volunteering is the heart of the organization,” says Wayne April.

The fact is, the Village was founded on the basis of members helping members. “From the very beginning we recognized that we would all need help from time to time—with driving, or cooking a meal or even changing a lightbulb. We wanted to help each other. We wanted to be active and useful,” explains founding member and Village President Sue Kujawa.

Sure, it can be hard to ask a stranger for help. But as Wayne sees it, “It’s common to ask for help from a friend. The beauty of being a member of Pasadena Village, if you don’t know the person, volunteering is another chance to make a friend. It gives you a chance to grow.” Wayne is a firm believer that getting a little bit out of our comfort zones is a good thing.

Village membership has grown tremendously in the past year. Sue Kujawa recommends that everyone—especially newer Villagers—get involved in activities and volunteering. “This way, they won’t be strangers, and they’ll be more comfortable asking for help when they need it.”

A good way to ease into volunteering is to become a volunteer driver. Villagers who need a driver contact the office. Priyanka or Hannah shares the request with the volunteer drivers. More volunteer drivers mean the Village can fulfill more requests.

Villagers are motivated to volunteer for different reasons. Wayne says it gives him a sense of purpose. “It kind of replaces the one I had when I was working.”

Dan started volunteering as a driver after his wife died. “Pasadena Village filled the big gap in my life. It was my intent to give back to the Village by volunteering. Bruce, like many members, no longer has the community he grew up with. “With the Village I found a different kind of community. Everyone gets to give and take. We have a number of members who can’t drive themselves ever; or can’t drive themselves because they had cataract surgery, or colonoscopy, or knee replacements. They need that support for a while. As a community we can just step in and help each other. It’s what you do for friends.”

No one can speak to the giving-and-taking of volunteering with as much heart as Kären Bagnard. While she needs help because of her worsening visual impairment, she, too, volunteers in many ways. “I love writing, planning social gatherings, sharing my creative energy and helping people come together. My blindness does not prevent me from doing much… I just don’t drive anymore.”

Kären knows first-hand how hard it is to ask for help. “We all want to be independent, which can make asking for help difficult. However, each one of us will need help with something someday. Keep in mind that those who do the volunteering do it because they want to. By asking for help you are, essentially, fulfilling the volunteer’s sense of purpose. That makes the task mutually beneficial. That is reciprocity. That is what makes our Village the success that it is.”

Blogs Topics Posts about this Topic