Volunteer of the week: Tom Mabry

• Name: Tom Mabry

• Age: 73

• Family: Three children, two stepchildren, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren

• City of residence: Yuba City

• Occupation: Retired from the state of California in 1998 after working from 1960 to 1998 including as right of way agent at Caltrans and managing deputy real estate commissioner

• How long have you lived in the Yuba-Sutter area? Since 1960

• Hobbies, interests: Photography, surfing the Internet, long trips in my car, treasure hunting with my metal detector, visiting with family

• For what groups do you volunteer? Sutter County Sheriff's Department Citizen Volunteers since about 2002. I had gone to the sheriff's department to renew a gun permit and, while talking, an officer mentioned the volunteer program. I used to put in more hours but am now just filling in. We do vacation checks, transport cars to the county shop, special projects for investigations.

The California Highway Patrol Yuba-Sutter office through the Retired Senior Volunteer Program for the past few months. We sort and file paperwork, assist officers who do presentations at schools. Right now it's just four hours a week.

• How do you fit it into your schedule? It just works itself out.

• Why do you volunteer? I've got free time and would like to do something to help the community. I thought it, volunteering, would be beneficial for me and for the county.

• Words of advice: To find a place to volunteer at, try the sheriff's department or the CHP or the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop, a hospice, your church. There's always the phone book. It's not hard to find a place.

• Quote: "Especially if you have lived in this area for awhile, I personally believe that people who live here have some obligation to support the community. Volunteering is the best way to do it."

Volunteer of the Week runs Tuesdays on the Local page. To submit the name of a volunteer to be featured, contact Leticia Gutierrez, Community Editor, at lgutierrez@appeal-democrat.com or call 741-2400.