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Giving Back by Volunteering


As election day approaches, let me tell you a little bit about myself and how I serve our community. Community service has always been extremely important to me and I’m raising my daughter to understand the importance of giving back to the community in which she lives in. We do this by volunteering.

One of my first major volunteer roles started in 2003 with the Town of Tonawanda Youth Court. When I moved to NYC to become an NYPD officer, I volunteered advocating for veterans as well as helping my wife with animal rescue and welfare.
When I retired and moved back to the Buffalo, NY area, I continued my Youth Court volunteer work and decided to add a few more roles to my community service. I advocated for Veterans returning to college by serving on the UB Veterans Steering Committee. I volunteered for 3 years for UB’s Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event and I was asked to join the event steering committee for the 2018 year.My more recent volunteer roles include coaching youth soccer. When my daughter decided she wanted to start playing youth soccer, I was asked to help with coaching. I saw this as a great opportunity to show my daughter how volunteering can be fun.I also volunteer to run the City of Tonawanda Veteran of the Month Award. A role that I pride myself in and am honored to hold. This award is given each month by the Mayor to honor a Veteran who has served and has a connection to the City of Tonawanda.
I also organize and volunteer running the Mayor’s Summer Reading Program with a hard working board of volunteers. This program focuses on continued reading access to City of Tonawanda youth during the summer months.My latest volunteer role that I am honored to be on, is the City of Tonawanda Cemetery Board. This board is working hard to organize volunteer events to help fix and repair our community cemeteries.

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