2010 STAR Award Career Volunteer: Virgil Sanford

Photo by Adrian Johnson
Story by Kalamazoo Gazette Staff

Early in his life, Virgil Sanford admits he did some things he regrets.

Now he is doing his best to help young people not have those same regrets when they get older.

After retiring in 1999 from a 17-year career as a maintenance worker in the power plants at the Upjohn Co. and Pharmacia Corp., Sanford, 70, threw himself into helping area organizations and churches.
 
He volunteers at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo and for about 20 hours each week at Victory Baptist Church, doing everything from plumbing work to painting to teaching Sunday school. A deacon at the church, he regularly makes visits to area hospitals to minister to the sick.

“I help out wherever I can,” he said. “It keeps me young.”

But Sanford’s “true calling,” as he describes it, comes from his work with the area’s troubled youth, efforts that are fueled by his fervent belief in Christian service.

He volunteers at the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home through the Kalamazoo Youth for Christ program, which connects trained adults with young people to help them make good choices and establish a solid foundation in life.

“There is a different life to lead than a life of crime,” Sanford said. “I sit with them, talk with them, pray with them. I try to help them realize that they have something positive to give the world.”

“I made mistakes in my life,” he said, “and I want others to learn from those mistakes.”

For his efforts, Sanford, of Kalamazoo, has earned a STAR Award in the category of Career Volunteer.

Sanford has befriended a 16-year-old through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Kalamazoo program. In the more than two years they have known each other – Sanford says he’s like a grandson – the young man’s grades have improve significantly. Sanford helped him get an afterschool job and has served as a role model, including him in his family’s events.

“I don’t know if I’ve had much of an impact, maybe a little,” he said. “But I’ve seen how volunteering can help someone. It can accomplish a lot.”

Sanford said he didn’t really start practicing his Christian faith until he reached his 30s. That’s when he realized he had been given certain spiritual gifts, endowments that he says everyone has, but in his case, involves helping others.

“Being able to do something for others is what I feel I have to do,” he said. “I guess you could call it a calling, a true calling to serve.”