August 30, 2021

Volunteer Spotlight: Meet Charles

News Volunteer Spotlights

What does a retired Arizona Chemical Engineer, with a passion for helping others, do when he decides to move to St. Petersburg, Florida? If you are Charles “Chuck” Smith, you jump right in spending time volunteering at CASA!

“I was a member of the Kiwanis [Club,] and we did a group volunteer project in the Thrift Shop,” explains Chuck and adds, “that’s how I became aware of the work that CASA does, and I wanted to take it to the next level.”

That was in 2016, and, since then, Chuck has become a CORE certified volunteer, which means he is now able to work with survivors at our shelter. “I love working with the kids, reading to them and just being everyone’s grandpa,” he says, smiling wide.

Denise Baron, Senior Residential Restorative Program Manager at our shelter, enjoys having him around, saying, “Chuck is a big part of our youth center at Shelter. He assists with any and all things related to kids, from assisting with youth center events to spending one on one time with children.”

If you have volunteered with CASA, you may have had the good fortune to meet this extraordinary man while painting the offices at Transitional Housing, assembling furniture to prepare the Transitional Housing Units, or maybe painting the Gazebo at one of the housing playgrounds. No matter the task, Chuck is up to the challenge and has turned his retirement into a labor of love, which is why Charles Smith is in the “Volunteer Spotlight” for September!