Carol Chauvin-Fortier

Looking for comfort and support after her husband passed away, Carol

Chauvin-Fortier joined a widows group at the Costa Mesa Senior

Center.

“[There’s] a lot of potential and bright individuals that help

support one another in marvelous ways,” she said.

In addition to finding solace, the experience enabled

Chauvin-Fortier to realize her potential as a dedicated volunteer.

She has been lending her volunteering skills to the senior center for

about seven years.

“I had been actively teaching for 30 years,” said the former

professor of pre-med students. “I needed something to do.

Volunteering was natural.”

Chauvin-Fortier’s involvement with the widows group led her to

meet the nurse at the center, who asked her to work with her. She

helps support a diabetic group and also assists with seniors who are

handicapped from nerve damage. She suffers from severe diabetes, she

said.

She also helps teach a support group about living with chronic

pain.

“[The group] is so helpful because they need ongoing support for

chronic pain,” she said. “It helps me as much as them.”

She also finds practical ways to help. Like when she noticed

seniors who came to her for medical advice couldn’t get in the front

door because it was so heavy.

“It set me on a mission to have automatic doors,” she said. “I

found the [Americans with Disabilities Act] required them. So the

city did it.”

When the former manager of the gift shop resigned and the shop was

going to be turned into an office, Chauvin-Fortier petitioned the

board to reopen it and let her operate it. She succeeded.

“Now we make $1,000 per month,” Chauvin-Fortier said . “All the

money goes to the senior center. Before, it was on consignment.”

The energetic 71-year-old said she derives pleasure from finding a

need and filling it.

“I’m so pleased to have come to this center ad help volunteer and

make it a better place,” Chauvin-Fortier said.

And she credited director Aviva Goelman and the board with

providing a solid foundation for success.

“Aviva’s done a marvelous job,” Chauvin-Fortier said. “She put us

in the black. I can’t say enough about Aviva and the board.”

-- Story by Deirdre Newman,

Photo by Mark C. Dustin