By Anthony F. Irwin
Members of the Retired Senior Volunteer Police – RSVP, for short – work alongside the Fullerton Police Department to address tasks that don’t necessarily require a sworn officer. Thus freeing up those officers to work as efficiently as possible.
In addition to performing these duties, volunteers participate in the St. Jude Wellness Check’s Caring Neighbors program, spending quality time with local elderly patients who otherwise would be alone.
Volunteer Laree Miner has spent time with such patients. “To know that I can temporarily alleviate the loneliness for these wonderful people is a gift from God,” Miner says.
Harriet Spree, 86, of Fullerton was in the end stages of her battle with cancer when, in June 2012, RSVP volunteers stepped up with an offer to clear debris from her front yard.
RSVPs Barbara Giasone and Kathy Katz contacted Sgt. Jeff Stuart about Spree’s yard, concerned that the property was overgrown to the point of being a potential hazard. Together, the three came up with the idea to use FPD’s Explorers to help on one of their volunteer service days.
Cpl. Alan Valdiserri, the FPD’s Explorer Advisor, answered the call and lined up kids from the Fullerton Police Department’s Explorer program as well as volunteers from the Fullerton Fire Department’s Explorer program. He also was able to secure from the City Maintenance Services Division, tools and a stake-bed truck, needed to haul away the debris.
Valdiserri and Stuart helped assemble a team of 26 volunteers, who removed weeds, trimmed trees and removed more than 4 stake bed truckloads and two pickup truckloads of debris from Spree’s home. “We were able to take care of the front yard on that first day,” Stuart said of Spree’s home. “But that backyard stretched about a half-mile an acre, so we had to come back. It ended up looking great, though.”
Several neighbors thanked the volunteers for helping make their community look better. Said one official: “It visibly transformed that part of the street. It made a huge difference.”
Spree since has lost her battle with cancer, but before she did, she had this to say when she saw the difference made possible by everyone’s efforts: “Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that anyone would do this for me.”
For their hard work and cooperation, Valdiserri, Giasone and Katz were awarded the Chief’s Commendation for performing their assigned duties in a manner above and beyond the written job description.
