National Volunteer Week gives county a chance to express its gratitude to helpers

When Mark Huffhines retired from his job in the finance planning and right-of-way department of the Federal Highway Administration, he knew he would miss being in constant contact with other people. Pete Malone, who had a long career coaching Olympic swimmers, felt the same.

Both men wanted to give back to their communities. Now they’re in the upper echelons of volunteers for the county. Each donated over 200 hours of their time last year, much of it in their own vehicles, to help elderly residents get meals and go to doctors appointments.

“The Olympics is based on volunteers,” Malone said.

Malone coached swimming with the county park and recreation district for 35 years. He coached U.S. national team swimmers and four of his Olympians earned gold.

“Now it’s my turn to flip it around,” and put in some volunteer time, he said.

Volunteers for the county’s human services programs and library were celebrated last week with an open house and luncheon and door prizes as part of National Volunteer Week.

The county makes extensive use of volunteers in 12 departments, not including those who serve on advisory boards and commissions. Officials figured that some 10,000 residents volunteered last year for the county, giving around 290,000 hours. That is time that would have cost the county $6.5 million if they’d been paid at 22.55 per hour, the rate national groups use to compute value of volunteer time.

Human services and the library are among the top users of volunteers, along with park and recreation and the extension office. Human services had 964 volunteers who put in 26,377 hours in 2014.

The county put on an open house for them last week with door prizes for everyone, bingo and healthy cooking demonstration of vegetable and fruit smoothies by one of the extension office’s master food volunteers.

Those volunteers give Medicare counseling, help seniors around their homes and personal shopping, said Brandy Hodge, volunteer services coordinator for county human services department.

They also do a lot of driving, transporting food for the Meals on Wheels program and bringing seniors to the doctor and grocery store for Catch a Ride.

Malone, of Olathe, put 14,000 miles on his car last year driving for Meals on Wheels. And that’s not counting the work he does for other groups that are not a part of the county.

Huffhines, 62, of Overland Park has been volunteering since 2009, mostly for Catch a Ride and Meals on Wheels. He generally drives five days a week for those programs, plus the Community Blood Center.

Chatting with the clients has proved to be the most interesting part of the job, he said. With Meals on Wheels, “I may be one of the only people they see the whole day. I just enjoy helping people out.”

Malone, 66, started volunteering in 2011 with the nonprofit Cancer Action and is also one of the county’s top five volunteers in hours served. He decided to retire from coaching at 62, after a bout with an MRSA infection slowed him down. “I couldn’t keep up with my athletes any more and do the things I expected of them,” he said.

“I knew I wanted to help those older people,” he said. “I learned how many of them don’t have a family support system. And I’d rather donate time than write a check. I’d rather it was hands-on.”

This story was originally published April 21, 2015 at 9:37 PM with the headline "National Volunteer Week gives county a chance to express its gratitude to helpers."