Public Relations & Volunteer Spotlight

Volunteer Spotlight Dean Spurgeon Home-Delivered Meals Volunteer Coordinator       It’s not a task for just anyone!   After all, Heartland’s home-delivered meal program  covers 11 communities with 150 seniors receiving nearly 13,000 meals annually.  That involves the recruitment and coordination of a multitude of volunteers for these home deliveries.  For many years RSVP helped with this endeavor.   When Heartland resumed the full coordination last year, one brave volunteer stepped forward to lead the charge: Dean Spurgeon.     From a pool of 70 volunteers, Dean makes about 25 calls a month to find deliverers in several of the communities involved: Huxley, Slater, Kelley, Cambridge, Gilbert and rural Ames.  The phone work requires 6-8 hours monthly and some sweet-talking along the way!  Dean is the man for the job with his winsome personality, enjoyment of people, and dedication to task.      Dean is well acquainted with Heartland and the seniors of Story County.  He was a Heartland bus driver for eight years plus.   Now, besides serving as a volunteer meal coordinator, he also is a receptionist on Thursdays at Heartland’s front desk.      Dean was born in Bloomfield, IA and graduated from Ottumwa High School.  After serving with the Army in Japan, he spent 36 years in sales and management with the Carpenter Paper Company out of Omaha.  He met Maxine, his wife of 47 years, during his early Omaha days.       Dean and Maxine moved to Ames in 1969 and, after his first retirement, owned the Pump and Party Shop in Ames for 14 years.   They have 4 children and 8 grandchildren.  Fishing is the number one hobby at the Spurgeon household although jitterbugging and bowling used to be high on the list as well.      It is his love of people and a servant’s heart that is the driving force behind Dean’s volunteerism.  Heartland is deeply grateful for the time and energy that he continues to devote to the seniors of Story County.