Meet Dee Dee
How long have you lived in the Bay Area?
Moved to the Bay Area in 2009—just in time for an incredible run for local sports teams! Those were some fun years of Giants parades, Warriors championships, etc.!
How did you learn about Save Mount Diablo?
During my tenure at the Volunteer Center of the East Bay was when I first heard of most East Bay nonprofit organizations.
The Volunteer Center was a long-standing institution that helped volunteers find suitable volunteer gigs, and nonprofit organizationss find volunteers—before websites and other software made it so easy for orgs to do that for themselves.
It was really nice to have the centralized platform; sad that that resource is no longer.
When did you start volunteering with us and why did you get involved?
Honestly, I can’t recall—but it was over 10 years ago. As to why I volunteer, there’s probably several reasons.
My parents get most of the credit. They instilled a love of—and sense of obligation—to the common good.
We often were “volun-told” for things while growing up, too, and that taught us kids how much help was needed, and because we met so many interesting people and learned about types of need out there, we began to enjoy helping in the community.
And also, I volunteer at a lot of events because I learned early on that I feel less socially awkward when I have a job to do and a reason to talk to people.
Which Save Mount Diablo programs are you involved in?
Moonlight on the Mountain—If you’ve never been, try to make it a priority. Being on spectacular Mt. D under the full moon and knowing you’re helping preserve it—is a really awesome experience.
It’s so lovely. And that’s before you include friends, music, good food, etc.!
What do you enjoy about the volunteer work you do?
Most volunteers like to feel useful. Personally, that’s probably my individual payoff—feeling like I’m needed and have contributed in some small way. The crew for Moonlight on the Mountain is also really, really caring and FUN.
What is the most challenging project you’ve worked on as a Save Mount Diablo volunteer?
So far, only well organized and good experiences have been had with Save Mount Diablo. Hope typing that doesn’t jinx it!
Is there a memorable experience you’ve had as a Save Mount Diablo volunteer?
I’d have to rate the first time I saw the full moon come up at the Moonlight on the Mountain. One simply cannot be anything but awed.
How do you spend your time beyond your volunteer work with us?
Wish Book and Share the Spirit (programs of the East Bay Times and The Mercury News) took up most of my time until recently retiring from that. Hoping to do more travel. We recently went to Belgium to watch cyclocross races.
Sammi (golden retriever) and I can be found in the open space most days of the week. How lucky we are to live in an area with local, regional, state, federal parks! We like to camp and hike, obviously.
One of our kids is a biologist and active forager and bug/plant photographer, so we are signed up on iNaturalist, which adds a lot to hikes. Sometimes my hubby and I have extra dogs along, we often foster for Norcal Golden Retriever Rescue or Golden Gate Lab Rescue.
I now do some gig work with the California Health Care Foundation, and also for events. Most recently I was at the Microsoft Build and the Stripe conferences helping with logistics. I also worked during a Yondr event at Chase during Superbowl week and got to hold Jay Z’s cell phone for a few seconds!
There are lots of other volunteer gigs—Commonwealth Club events in San Francisco, East Bay Leadership Council events, Sustainable Contra Costa’s new Ridge to Ridge event, and lots more.
This is showing me that I should do a better job of tracking who I volunteer with—there’s lots more. All my volunteering is really an ode to volunteering.
When I was working at the Volunteer Center for the East Bay, I spoke with all the nonprofit organizations and know how critical volunteers are to so many missions. And it showed how many different ways there were to help. Plus the great majority of the volunteer experiences have been educational, interesting, and enjoyable.
Reading has really gone up since retiring—I highly recommend one of my latest reads, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library, by Michiko Aoyama.
We love supporting the local teams and Warriors, Valkyries, Giants, Roots, Quakes, etc. games, in addition to SF Jazz (yay, Lesher Center for bringing some SF Jazz to Walnut Creek!) and Broadway SF shows also keep us on the move.
And the Contra Costa County libraries have been putting on some killer programs. I heard Oaktown Jazz at the Ygnacio Valley branch, and saw Wajahat Ali, also Saul Perlmutter, Robert Maccoun, John Campbell, and some other incredible people/programs recently at the Lafayette branch.
There’s so much to do in the Bay Area—indoors and out. My husband likes to call me a “scanner” because I find so many things interesting, but it is true that this area and state have so much to explore!
