by Sally Haver
After working for 3+ decades as an executive at international pharmaceutical companies, Marion Ceruzzi left to do what she really loves – Good Works. When asked what that entails, she gave a little “Aw shucks” chuckle before launching into a description of past and present volunteer activities.
While Marion was working full-time, she managed to squeeze in the following:
- Through the Future for Children program, she emotionally and financially supported a Navajo boy and his education. He’s now 20 and enrolled in a community college, most assuredly through Marion’s efforts.
- Was a Member of Literacy Volunteers of America, helping non-English speakers negotiate doctors’ appointments and grocery shopping.
- Was a volunteer Poll worker for her township, helping voters navigate the voting process
- Co-leader of her daughter’s Girl Scout troop.
- Taught religious education for her church’s Youth Children’s Program
What’s on Marion’s plate now?
“I volunteer in a hospice at the Veterans’ Administration hospital. The folks there can use all the help and interaction we can provide.”
“I’m also a farmer and delivery person–really! At a nearby garden site, we plant, weed and harvest a substantial crop of vegetables every season for food-insecure insecure families and deliver to families in the area. It does your heart good to see their faces as we deliver the crops to their doorsteps.”
“I’m taking Spanish lessons at the Raritan Valley community college, so I’ll be fluent enough to translate for Hispanic patients who don’t speak English, when they have doctors’ appointments at our local hospital.”
“I adore animals, so one of my volunteer jobs is at the Home for Good Dog Rescue, where we receive abused dogs and puppies. We feed, bathe, groom, and handle them extensively, getting them ready for adoption. I help at the adoption site, ensuring and am happy knowing it is incredibly rewarding to know that the dogs’ new families will provide safe and loving homes.”
“At our church, I’m co-chairing a committee that sponsors visits to the U.S. for families from Transylvania. The next year, some of our teen-agers will spend a couple of weeks over there, seeing how different life is in Eastern Europe.”
Sally Haver retired in 2013 after a long career as a Senior Business Development Executive. Since retiring, she has found that there are many people who are working during their post-retirement years, and not necessarily because they have to work. Some retirees are interested in pursuing a lifetime dream, and others find tremendous fulfillment simply by undertaking a new challenge. Sally Haver is an editor and a frequent contributor to The Connector, covering the emerging new work force of retirees who are choosing to work for the sheer love of it.
Sally Haver
Sally Haver is a senior sales/marketing professional and career management consultant with a broad-based business background encompassing human resources consulting services, recruitment, university placement, advertising/marketing, and show business. At The Ayers Group, in her 19th year of service, Ms. Haver adeptly leverages her wide range of corporate senior contacts, combined with excellent writing and platform presentation skills, to the bottom-line benefit of her firm. She is known in the field as a competitive, persistent, highly creative contributor who teams and mentors with a generosity of spirit.