It started with a yo-yo, a pack of playing cards and some deodorant Gene and Rita Conger stuck in a blue shoebox and shipped to their grandson serving an 18-month tour in Iraq.
“It just refreshed him,” Rita Conger said. “So I said, ?if we can do it for him, we can do it for his buddies.? ”
The “buddies” turned out to number 75 and the Congers? project swelled into 10,000 pounds of chocolate, Frisbees, and toothpaste for the soldiers and thousands of pairs of sandals and clothes for children in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The couple was among 1,700 senior citizens who volunteered atleast 100 hours last year at Baltimore County schools, libraries, senior centers, hospitals, blood drives and more. They logged 226,000 hours of service and saved the county an estimated $4 million through their philanthropy, according to County Executive Jim Smith, who attended an annual “thank you” luncheon Thursday at Martin?s West in Woodlawn.
“Healthy communities thrive because of people who care, who look out for their neighbors,” Smith said. “You play a critical role in the renaissance of Baltimore County.”
Thirteen seniors were named “lifetime achievement volunteers,” logging 4,000 hours of service, and another 20 contributed 1,000 hours last year alone.
Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, founder and director of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore and guest speaker at the luncheon, said seniors would serve as models during future “economic storms.”
County Department of Aging officials named the Erickson Foundation ? owner of the Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville ? as its “business partner of the year” for contributing money, equipment and designs to fitness rooms in five senior centers.
The sixth senior fitness center is expected to open in two weeks in Parkville. Another opens in Pikesville in July. An eighth is planned for next year.
