Claire, in a rare moment of relaxation
Since 1987, volunteer Claire Hinrichs has been donating her time and talent to numerous non-profit organizations. Retired from John Deere as a data processor in 1986, Claire took up her volunteer calling the very next year when husband Don asked her to help with the record keeping for his retiree volunteer program at General Mills, a role that she continues to this day.
Claire also joined RSVP at that time in her life, and has been a seasonal volunteer in the Hennepin County Property Tax Department for the last 25 years. She is the only volunteer in the department, assisting staff every May and October to process thousands of property tax payments. “I just love working with figures”, says Claire, of why this volunteer role has appealed to her. In addition to math and finance knowledge, manual dexterity and excellent organizational skills are needed for this position. “We used to have a mortgage company that would send in 20 to 23 batches of stubs and each one had 100 parcels in them. I had to add each one up to verify the total that was sent in. [Claire] would help me with the adding and it would amaze me how fast she could go with only using one or two fingers on the calculator. Sometimes I would try and race when she wasn’t looking to see if I could go faster”, said one employee. Employees have also appreciated Claire’s smiling personality and positive attitude during a very chaotic time of year. In this era of tight budgets and economic concerns, the tax department has been especially very thankful for Claire’s volunteer contribution.
In addition to keeping the records current for the General Mills retiree program, now known as G Alumni, Claire acts as the volunteer recruiter. G Alumni volunteers work on projects either in the office or out in the community every Thursday. Claire’s job is to contact as many volunteers as needed to fill the specific job requests, with some jobs requiring as many as 40 volunteers. Claire’s preferred method of communication is a personal contact; “So many people do email these days, but I like the phone. I get a hold of them and I know immediately whether or not they can help”. Claire then helps direct the work of the volunteers so that the project, whether it is a mailing for the Salvation Army, packaging pedometers for Health Partners, or participating in the wheelchair archery program at Courage Center, is done correctly and successfully. “I’m very fussy and want things done right… I think that’s why they keep me on”.
What motivates this 86 year old to do all this volunteer work? “When you’ve had a good life like I’ve had, you want to give back. You can’t just take all the time, you’ve got to give”, smiles Claire. “I get satisfaction from volunteering and helping others… having a reason to get up and out in the morning contributes to keeping me healthy”.
Reaching her goal of 20,000 hours of volunteerism has also kept Claire motivated. For those of us who do not have Claire’s head for “figures”, that breaks down into roughly 17 volunteer hours per week for the last 25 years, an amount equivalent to a half-time job! RSVP salutes Claire for her many hours of dedicated service to the community.
