Volunteer Spotlight

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Quotes

"Goodness is a special kind of truth and beauty. It is truth and beauty in human behavior."
- William Wordsworth

"The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good deed by stealth and have it found out by accident."
- Charles Lamb

Volunteer Spotlight

Davis Street has been helping the most vulnerable people of our community for nearly 35 years. First as a ministry of the First Christian Church and now as: Davis Street Family Resource Center. As a public benefit corporation, our mission is to “help others, help themselves”. We are able to carry out our mission, thanks to our cadre of volunteers who give of their time however great or small. “We can do no great things; only small things with great love.-Mother Theresa”

We believe that Volunteers are the “glue” that keeps a community together. Volunteers fill in the gaps-they help in so many ways. They tutor, treat uninsured patients, clean up our streets, answer phones, give out warm coats, feed they hungry and give out toys to needy children. While their jobs are varied, they all have on thing in common: they lovingly give of themselves – to help someone less fortunate.

Davis Street is indeed fortunate to have compassionate and committed volunteers. We could not provide the family support services – food, clothing, tax preparation assistance, medical care, run the family resource center nor the annual Holiday food and toy program, were it not for the hundreds of volunteers.

Spotlight on Luster Knight,
Engineer at the Alameda County Fire Department!

Engineer Luster epitomizes the term volunteer. He gives of his time and resources to make sure that the poorest in our community receive a food basket and a turkey, and that each child receive new toys at Christmas.

Luster has been volunteering at Davis Street for more than 15 years. It is his determination and perseverance that has sustained our efforts to serve the community. Luster is involved in all aspects of the program, from securing the turkeys (he is routinely seen throughout the community and on the local cable channel) and toys (from Arlen Ness to Costco and WalMart) to packing the boxes and handing them out to hundreds of poor families each year. From September to January, you can find Luster at Davis Street-making sure that the spirit of Christmas lives on.

Thank You Luster, for your tireless effort to help us help others!

“Your profession is not what brings home your pay. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.” ----Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890

Spotlight on Jeff Jacobson - By : Jim Knowles : 10/4/06

The Oakland A’s hired Jeff Jacobson this year
to accommodate disabled fans.

Jeff Jacobsen just got the call. The A’s are keeping him on the payroll. He’ll be back in 2007. Barry Zito’s status for next season is still in question, but Jacobsen is signed, sealed and delivered.

“My boss just told me I can come back next year,” said a beaming Jacobsen. “That’s awesome.” Jacobsen just loves his job. He assists A’s fans with disabilities, helps them find the right gate, find a seat - whatever comes up, he’s there for them. Heck, Jacobsen even likes his job so much he’ll help out a Yankees fan. “I help everybody, whether they’re disabled or not, but mostly I’m there for the disabled people,” says the 37-year-old San Leandro resident. The Arroyo High grad took a roundabout route to land his job with the A’s. He worked as a courtesy clerk at the Safeway in Castro Valley for 15 years but he hurt his back and could no longer do heavy lifting. He found out about the opening with the ball club through East Bay Innovations, a nonprofit in San Leandro that helps people develop job skills and living skills. EBI sent Jacobsen for an interview with the A’s. “They hired me on the spot,” Jacobsen says. On the first day he got a tour of the Coliseum from his boss, Dave Avala. “He took me down to the weight room where the A’s work out. I was totally amazed,” said Jacobsen, who was born blind in one eye. “He took me down to the field and I was totally amazed again.” And when he’s not working for the A’s, Jacobsen is a volunteer at the Davis Street Resource Center. “I like helping people,” he says. The Oakland A’s started a program for the disabled back in the ’80s with electric carts to drive people around the Coliseum. But they found out about East Bay Innovations by chance. It started with a stolen wheelchair, probably by some kids who took the chair for a joy ride. The A’s found the expensive, specially made wheelchair, and made a call to the fan’s father. “He was ecstatic because he was going to have to buy a new wheelchair,” said David Rinetti, A’s vice president of stadium operations. It turned out the owner of the wheelchair, Josh Routh, is with EBI and his dad, Don, is a board member. The A’s gave Josh and his dad tickets to a couple of games, and they told Rinetti about EBI. “The whole idea is to get people with developmental disabilities to be a viable member of the community and the A’s have really been terrific,” said Don Routh. EBI helps with the job training, sending a coach along with a new employee to make sure he understands the job. “The coach goes with him, so the employer gets two employees for the price of one,” Routh said. After the employee knows the job, the coach can move on and just check in with him once a week or so. Meanwhile, Jacobsen says he knows the job pretty well now. He describes how he makes his rounds from the BART station to the disabled parking spaces, checking to see that the cars have their placards. And if he finds a car in a disabled space without their blue placard? “Oh, I just leave them a little note,” Jacobsen says. “I just say, ‘Please don’t park here again.’”