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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend January 2, 2006 Jim and Gwynn Sullivan of Medford donate time and money to a number of local organizations � including by helping find homes for needy dogs. A tradition of giving Hometown Hero By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune Married 56 years, Jim and Gwynn Sullivan spend their retired hours being as much help as they can to children, the elderly and the disabled — and to a shaggy, friendly strain of dogs known as "bearded collies," for whom they work as a rescue-relocation team. Born and raised in Medford, Gwynn Sullivan serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)and Start Making a Reader Today (SMART)volunteer, while her husband volunteers in tax preparation for the AARP and as a bill payer for those no longer able to handle their financial affairs. Lofty motives are not the reason for so much time and energy donated to the community. The Sullivans clearly are doing what they love — and getting paid by the positive changes they see happening before their eyes. "I just love it dearly," says Gwynn Sullivan about her work as a SMART reader at Medford’s Washington Elementary School for 12 years. "It’s easily the most fun job I’ve ever had and the kids and staff are incredible. I sit all year and read to them and I find out they have more needs than reading. Some need to cry for half an hour or to talk and you let them talk." About her CASA kids, she says, "I believe in what I volunteer for and I believe in the children. They need a voice and ‘Grandma’ (her nickname with the kids) is that voice." Advertisement For Jim Sullivan, a retired Crown Zellerbach salesman, his work with the same kids happens through service on CASA’s Citizens Review Board, which, twice a year, examines the cases of all kids under the court’s control to make sure none fall through the cracks. He serves on the Medford School District’s Long-Range Facilities Planning Committee, which visits a different school each month to check out its condition — "not good," he says, especially North Medford High School — and has invested volunteer time as chairman of the city parks commission, board president of the Salvation Army and working at ARC and for county mental-health services. After raising five children, the Sullivans turned to other adventures. He took 40 jumps skydiving; she learned to play bagpipes and marched in two bands. Volunteering isn’t just showing up and doing set tasks, but "just doing what people should do," Jim Sullivan says. Often, adds his wife, it’s waking up in the middle of the night worrying about what’s to become of the kids, when you’ve been placed between them and the precipice — being adopted out of their families. "It’s walking in a foster home with nine kids and having them run up to you and shout ‘Grandma’s here!’ " Gwynn Sullivan says. "Some are so hurting and damaged, if you can make a bright spot, it helps so much — and when you see the (natural) parents, people who’ve had their kids taken away, now getting with the program and turning their lives around, you could not give me a better gift. A new home, outfit and Cadillac would not touch the sight of a family getting back together." And the bearded collies? They’re a lot like the kids that the Sullivans, now in their 70s, look after. They’ve adopted two, and, when handed the animals by the animal shelter or humane society, have found homes for another five. "They don’t look like Lassie," says Gwynn Sullivan, "and we kind of like it that way." John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected]. Do you know someone who's a Hometown Hero? The first to volunteer when a school or a local family needs help, or someone who has risked his personal safety or financial security to help someone else? Submit suggestions to Mail Tribune reporter Sanne Specht via e-mail at A tradition of giving ">[email protected] or by phone at 776-4497. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Student Loans Online Pharmacy tcg student loan consolidation Online Casino Reviews Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Discount Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Salvia Divinorum Online Casino Fundraisers Advertisement s