Jeff Graham

Name: Jeff Graham

Age: 42

Family: Wife, Pamela; and son, Brandon.

City of residence: Yuba City

Occupation: Information technology specialist for the Bureau of Land Management

How long have you lived in the Yuba-Sutter area? I grew up in the area, but left for college. Pam and I moved to Texas after getting married, and then we moved back in 2001.

Hobbies, interests: Theater, books, movies, food, and spending time with family and friends.

For what groups do you volunteer? I do the majority of my volunteering with The Acting Company. I’ve also volunteered with different groups and organizations that have been a part of my son’s schooling, and I recently volunteered with the Sutter Performing Arts Association for its Masquerade Ball.

What attracted you to those particular groups? My mom bought us tickets to see “Nunsense II” at TAC. We saw that they were starting up children’s acting classes, we signed Brandon up, and I accompanied him to his classes. On a whim, we both decided to audition for “The Wiz,” were both cast, and we’ve been involved ever since.

Since 2005, I’ve been directly involved in 32 shows, and since mid-2007, I’ve been creating posters, programs and doing website updates for the theater. This year, I finally joined the board, and so far this year, I’ve been directly involved in every Main Stage show, except the first one.

How do you fit volunteering into your schedule? It takes a lot of juggling to keep things moving along, but I love the theater and the folks I have met through the company. I have enjoyed each of the different roles, both on and off-stage, though sometimes I feel like I live at the theater. I hope to be able to continue to play there for a long time to come.

Words of advice: Find something you love to do, find a group that does it, and volunteer to help them do it; that way, everybody wins. My family and I have had an absolute fantastic time at TAC and have made a ton of friends who have become family.

Positive and negative points about volunteering: A positive is that it makes you feel good to help because you are. My family and I are able to volunteer together as a whole family. A negative is that sometimes you are underappreciated or taken for granted, and that’s hard.

Quote: “Volunteering can be exhausting, it can suck up a lot of time, which is why I say find something you love to volunteer for so you can weather through the negative."

Volunteer of the Week runs Tuesdays. To submit the name of a volunteer to be featured, contact Community Editor Leticia Gutierrez at 749-6552.