2020 Don Singleton Volunteer of the Year Award
Congratulations to Leah Clark, President, Los Angeles Computer Society
2020 Volunteer of the Year
A brief explanation of why you feel your group’s nominee should receive the Don Singleton Volunteer of the Year award.
Leah Clark has been President of the Los Angeles Computer Society for the last two years. (In October, she will be elected again for 2021.) She simultaneously writes for and edits our monthly newsletter, User Friendly and for years has been our APCUG Representative. She joined LACS in 1998. Since then, she has been our Secretary, Editor, a board member, the Genealogy SIG leader, a Meeting Greeter, and the Hospitality Aide. For many years, she has done numerous volunteer jobs cheerfully, competently, and on time.
Describe how your volunteer has made a difference to your group. For example: Show specific examples of your volunteer’s roles and responsibilities.
Since 2013, Leah has edited and written for User Friendly, our 20-page, monthly newsletter which is printed and published on our website (www.lacspc.org). User Friendly won the APCUG Best Newsletter award in 2019. As President, she supervises the work of other officers, board members, and volunteers and helps to select meeting speakers and topics. She leads one of the larger PC user groups in California (more than 100 members). We also have a Meetup group with more than 200 members. Our members serve the community by supervising computer laboratories at the Culver City Senior Center. She volunteered there for years. For many years, she has been a Quick Consultant – a volunteer to provide technical support for members by telephone.
Explain how your volunteer has shown initiation and leadership in his or her efforts.
When the COVID 19 pandemic made in-person meetings dangerous, Leah quickly learned how to run a Zoom meeting, gathered Zoom information, and taught our members and others how to participate. None of our monthly board and general meetings were missed or delayed. We have opened our Zoom meetings to other APCUG groups.
Leah played a substantial role in helping the board agree on reasonable steps to eliminate unnecessary expenses as it became apparent that LACS would not meet in person for some time and therefore would not need these services soon. Regarding our rental agreement with the church where we held our meetings, Leah let everyone express their opinions and a decision was made to pay a small monthly fee for the use of the closet where we store our chairs, etc. for the rest of 2020. We also canceled our $1 million general liability insurance policy and received a substantial refund. These will be looked at again when we can meet in person.
The LACS hospitality chair was unable to continue her duties in 2019 through March 2020, Leah stepped in to ensure the benefit continued for our monthly meetings.
During our move from YahooGroups to Groups.IO, she supervised the move of eight YahooGroups to three sub-accounts in Groups. Leah and I discussed the changes with relevant members and explained the changes to our members in emails and the monthly newsletter that she edits.
The below nominee received a Certificate of Appreciation
Dick Evans, Director
Charlotte County Computer Group
Brief explanation of why you feel your group’s nominee should receive the Don Singleton Volunteer of the Year award.
Dick Evan is the most giving, factual, kind, patient, and positive person I have ever met.
I have been a member of this club for decades and have not experienced a more giving and supportive individual in all that time. Our club has a whopping membership of over 600 individuals of all ages and skills. Currently, Dick is vice president of the club but he wears MANY hats. He obtains our speakers for the monthly meetings and quite often puts on the presentation himself. He constantly keeps abreast of the latest technology in hardware and software in ALL devices and passes this information on to the members. This is an extraordinary man.
Describe how your volunteer has made a difference to your group. For example: Show specific examples of your volunteer’s roles and responsibilities.
Dick took it upon himself to start Zoom classes for members after COVID-19 started. Not one but at least two or three Zoom classes a week! Previously he conducted monthly classes to keep us members up to date on all tech along with a monthly general meeting. You can contact him at any time with tech questions and he patiently assists you.
When he’s wearing his instructor’s hat he mentors a weekly zoom class where he covers everything from ‘how to start your computer’ to ‘how to image your hard drive’. He welcomes any and all questions and treats each and every individual with patience and grace. After each class, he sends a recap of the class via email and submits an audio copy of the meeting on his Facebook page. The weekly class information can also be found in his blog – so helpful for those of us who forgot something he covered six months ago! In addition, at this time of communication via zoom, he has added to his repertoire, a weekly zoom class to familiarize anyone who wishes to learn more.
Explain how your volunteer has shown initiation and leadership in his or her efforts.
When March 13th, 2020 shut down the country, he started teaching us members Zoom. He didn’t miss a beat. He is a wonderful leader for our whole group.
Any member of the club can email Dick, explain their problem, and by using Quick Assist he can solve their problem. Another facet of his consistent attitude toward helping members is the fact that he makes house calls. Before the COVID shutdown, Dick was spending time at the club office repairing members’ computers – he now does that in their home. Outside of our club, Dick shares his knowledge on Dave’s Tips.