Community Chronicles: Showcasing a Path of Purposeful Volunteering

After recieving my EMT-B licesnce from the NREMT exam and Texas Department of Health and Human Services, I decided to put it into action and joined my local Fire Department which is 100% volunteer operated. During my time with the department I ran medical response, vehicle accident response, structure fire response, wildfire response and disaster recovery. I attended weekly training every Thursday at Station 1 in town where we practiced with the jaws of life, pump operations, ladder training, equipment usage, medical training, physical fittness and much more. Rain or shine, regular days and holidays we were always prepared to help our community. I did have to back out of the commitment when my wife at the time was having severe health issues and I needed to focus on my family life, however, that did not stop me from answering the call when needed. In 2017, I volunteered to help during Hurricane Harvey disaster recovery where we extracted people trapped in their houses, saved pets, removed dangerous wildlife like aligators from peoples yards, provided emergency medical services, provided food and shelter to civilians and much more. For my efforts I was given an award for helping the department with no commitment to the team.

Formally worked with Schuffs Home for Abandoned Rabbits to perform animal pickup, feed and tend to rabbits, provide assistance during summer months to help cool the animals and fostered rabbits when the shelter was at capacity. However, I also took in multiple dogs from abusive situtations including a elderly incontinent dog, blind dog, deaf dog, brain damaged dog and one with no severe issues. None of these dogs were shelter dogs, the city would call me to assist personally in rescuing these animals, they have been pulled out of woods, off highways, etc. These five dogs still live with me along with three rescue cats.

I joined the USS Endurance a few weeks before it was officially given its charter from STARFLEET International. We have different sections, engineering, medical, operations just like the ships in Star Trek have. Our ship got a 3D printer and would make phasers and other items to sell at events to cover the cost of travel any profit that was made was dontated to charity. I was a Lieutenant of the Medical Branch, having helped by providing minor medical training like CPR class and brining active members into the group. We often went to local events like the LGBTQ+ rallies, Cancer Walks and major holiday functions to show community support and raise money for charities often in costume as Startfleet personnel.

During my tenure at CapitalOne eCommerce I started my own 501.3c organization for a time. I enlisted the help of friends and co-workers to create a local outreach. Together we attended charity runs as a group, collected holiday cards for troops delivered to the VA, delivered toys during winter holidays to childrens wing of local hospitals, raised money for medical research and much more.

During college I would attend a church soup kitchen, regardless of the fact that this church was far outside my chosen faith. I had no obiligation or extra credit points awarded, I did notice that I had excessive free time between classes, often on days that the soup kitchen needed help. Instead of spending the extra time studying or relaxing I decided to give back to my local community to help those less fortunate than myself.

During a blood drive I was informed my blood is CMV (Cytomegalovirus) negitive and about 15% of the US population is CMV negitive which makes my blood something of a commodity. My blood has a higher chance to go to an infant, person with a compromised immune system or the elderly because of its CMV status. I try to donate as often as I can at my local LifeShare Blood Center.

For years I have been a Be My Eyes member. The application runs idle on my mobile device and when a user that has vision issues needs something read to them, to ask what color their shirt is, what temperature something is set to, etc. I will help them out and give them that information and normally chat with them for a moment to ensure they are doing well and don't need further assistance.