Jill Dettmer

Name: Jill Dettmer

Age: 70

Family: Husband, Richard; son, John; two grandsons.

Residence: Yuba City.

Occupation: Retired in 1998 as executive secretary for Lockheed-Martin, space division.

How long have you lived in the Yuba-Sutter area? Since 1998; we moved from San Jose.

Hobbies, interests: I love to do genealogy, fly fish, camp and go out in our RV.

For what groups do you volunteer? Happy Landings for spouses of military personnel at Beale Air Force Base. Mandy Jones and I started it in 2010 while with the Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce. Every other month at Beale, we have a luncheon for spouses and a PowerPoint tour of Marysville and Yuba City. The spouses are away from home, so we thought we had to do something. I go around to businesses collecting donations for prizes.

I am still with the Chamber of Commerce, volunteering two days a week. I started volunteering because I was kind of bored and needed something to do. At the chamber, I started by calling members when bills were due, picking up things for lunches.

As a member of the Republican Women of Sutter County, I helped set up a dinner in 2006 on behalf of Assemblyman Rick Keene for Arnold Schwarzenegger. During the dinner, I went around to people who hadn't paid for the event, asking for their donation.

I am still a member of the group now called Sutter-Yuba Republican Women and volunteer at the local headquarters.

My husband is a member of Rotary, so I've helped him at the club's crab feed for the past four years and, though I am not a member of Beale's Patriotic Club, they call me when they need help.

In the past, I helped with the Patriotic Golf Tournament at Beale in 2011; and the American Red Cross from when 9/11 happened to about 2005 — my husband and I took classes and went to about four or five disasters.

How do you fit it into your schedule? I seem to get more done when I've got a lot of things to do. Then I can set my priorities and get things done.

Words of advice: Just pick out what you want to do to. I can tell you 30 places around here that could use volunteers.

Why be a volunteer? What else are you going to do? You can only read so many books. As of now we don't have the television on during the day — we're both busy. One thing about volunteering: You can try it, but if it's not helping you, then try something else. You don't want to be taken advantage of.

Quote: By volunteering, "You are helping your community. It keeps me young and active. And I'm happier being busy."