From: Vol. 2, Issue 3, January 18-24, 2007



By Shelley Murphy

San Clemente Times



The city’s Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) provides free vacation home checks, visits to the elderly homebound and much more



Going on vacation? Don’t forget to hold the mail and the newspapers, and call police services. Call police services? Yes, free vacation home checks are only one of the many community services provided by the city’s Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). “They just have to call the station and tell us they are leaving and we provide a free vacation home check while they are away,” says Joe Hill, RSVP coordinator and five-year veteran. “We try to go every day and check all the doors and look in the windows; we look for signs of unusual activity—for example, a broken window or open door. If we find anything amiss we call the regular deputies and they handle it—and they treat it very seriously,” explains Hill.



In 1985 the RSVP program started with the purpose of augmenting police services. “We had some volunteers and thought maybe they would like to help the sheriff’s department,” says Hill. “It has evolved over the years.” The program and its 35 volunteers operate under the direction of the sheriff’s department and Administrative Sergeant Nancy Gafner. “Not many cities have the program, and the fact that we have such a great core of people who really want to help out our city, that not only says something about the citizens, but [also about] the city—it’s incredible to me,” says Sergeant Gafner, who’s run the program for nearly two years.



While supporting the sheriff’s department is their priority, RSVPs wear many hats: volunteers help man the police services front office; transport sheriffs’ department vehicles for maintenance; help with parking enforcement; follow up on graffiti removal and assist with special events and traffic control. Volunteers also visit elderly homebound residents as a part of its YANA program (You Are Not Alone). “There is always something going,” says Hill. That’s especially true at the PACT (Police and Community Together) house, a shack of sorts sitting at the shore end of the pier. On Saturdays and Sundays throughout the year, and daily in the summer, the RSVPs greet visitors, hand out information, answer questions, protect the railroad crossings and serve as a reminder of the rules.



“Their enthusiasm in helping out is incredible, and they save the city and the sheriff’s department so much money with their services,” says Sergeant Gafner. In

addition to their positive contribution to the community, the RSVPs make a significant impact fiscally. “Our group represents a contribution of over $253,000 per year to the city. It’s one way to look at the kind of value that we give,” says Hill.



Next month the RSVPs take on additional responsibilities—enforcing the two-hour parking limit on Avenida Del Mar. With the city’s population on the rise and new shopping centers on the horizon, the planned enforcement will help prepare residents for the projected parking crunch. According to Sergeant Gafner, there will be a two-week warning period and then enforcement—aka parking tickets—will become part of the RSVPs’ daily routine. “Believe it or not, I don’t like to give people tickets,” says Hill. “I’m not out there to be a bad guy.”



In Hill’s eyes, he’s out there to help the community, and he has many memories in doing so. “In Mission Viejo someone was putting razor blades and other things underneath slides in parks, and the sheriff’s department asked the RSVPs to go to the parks here and just check,” he says. “There would be moms with their kids at the park and they would look at me and say, ‘What are you doing?’ And, I would say, ‘We’re just checking to see if there is anything dangerous down here that might need to be removed.’ I remember the looks on the faces of those moms—the gratitude and the thanks that I saw, that’s all the money that I’ll ever need to make this job worthwhile. Stuff like that happens to RSVPs all the time.”





2006 RSVP Statistics



RSVP volunteer hours: 9,280



Number of vacation home checks: 2,018



Hours spent at the PACT house: 1,320



Hours spent on traffic control and special events: 697



Number of YANA visits: 303



Number of non-moving violation citations issued: 829



Are you an active senior over the age of 50 looking to volunteer three days a month? Call SC Police Services to apply: 949.361.8224