NOVEMBER 6, 2015
ONE GOOD TURN...
NOVEMBER 6, 2015 CHAPSILLUSTRATED.COM
CHAPS ILLUSTRATED RECOGNIZES COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO ARE IMPROVING OUR WORLD.
Tom Christianson has been manning the mop every Tuesday for a few years now- and there’s no sign he’s going to stop now.
Tom is a volunteer at Doug’s House, one of the facilities run by Project Transitions. As an HIV/AIDS hospice facility, Doug’s House has to be spotless and Tom--who calls himself a “worker without pay” to highlight the money Project Transitions saves by employing its 100+ volunteers--says that he “saw a need and wanted to do something about it, simple as that.”
Since opening its doors in 1989 Doug’s House has provided a peaceful place for over 500 AIDS patients to pass away, and for many more to rehabilitate. In addition to Doug’s House, Project Transitions has two housing facilities and a thrift store, Top Drawer Thrift, that are all able to run because of volunteer work.
Tom, who was an Air Force Chaplain, sees his volunteer work as natural. “Either you spend your time responding to others or you continue to focus on yourself,” something he refuses to do. In addition to mopping and cleaning Tom also does laundry, rides his bike in the annual Hill Country Ride for AIDS to raise money for Project Transitions and--what he assures me is the most important part of his volunteering--talks and listens to the residents at Doug’s House. Without that personal connection, he says, there is no point to what he’s doing.
Thinking about getting younger people into volunteering he had this to say: “Continue loving or learn to love; continue to give. If you focus on yourself you might become wealthy, but you won’t enjoy it.”
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or email
Linc Allen [email protected]
2015 HONOREE
Tom Christianson