Spotlight on Volunteers: Jack O'Connor

Jack O’Connor is a prime example of an individual who takes it on himself to better the world around him.  One of the primary ways in which he achieves this is through his volunteer work for the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division 3, in Pearl River.  Among the many other duties that he performs for the Hibernians, O'Connor is the Chairman of the , which is held twice annually on St. Patrick's Day and Thanksgiving.

Born in Manhattan and raised in Queens, O’Connor moved with his wife Kathleen to Pearl River in 1972.  The happy couple of 41 years have two children, Kelly and Sean.  They have  two grandchildren by Kelly and Sean is expecting his first child in July.

O’Connor is a retired purchasing manager for the city of New York and spends much of his time, true to character, helping his family and community.  Many of his days are spent helping to care for his two grandchildren and volunteering for the Hibernians.

When and why did volunteering start becoming a part of your life?

At the Hibernians and other organizations that I volunteer for, it’s just something that I feel like, at least I can give something back to the community if I have some time to do it.  Over the years, I’ve helped raise money for autistic children and their plight in order to raise money for various activities.  I’ve volunteered for the past 30 years doing various things for the Hibernians, besides for this senior luncheon that I’ve run for the past 30 years plus.

Do you feel like your upbringing had anything to do with why you started volunteering, or was it just something about you?

My father kind of volunteered for different things.  He belonged to an organization called the Knights of Columbus, he was always volunteering there.  So did I too, but, at that point, I was a young man, so I wasn’t doing too much volunteering at that time.  I was in my late teens or early twenties, so I was either going to college or having fun.  But he volunteered for various activities within that organization when I was growing up, so it kind of got me into the volunteering stage of life too and I’ve only been into that when I moved up here and started volunteering for various things.

How did you get involved with the Hibernians?

It’s funny, my wife said, when we first moved up here in the 70’s, moving in from the city, all my friends and all her friends were back in Queens and we didn’t have any children at that time when we first bought the house here in Pearl River.  So she said, well, why don’t you get involved with some organizations.  Maybe you’ll meet some friends and stuff like that, and that’s what happened.  I joined the Ancient Order of Hibernians back in the late 70’s and now that I became friends with people, I started to do activities in there like Communion Breakfast, this, that and I started to get involved in various aspects of the Hibernians and volunteered for different things at that point.

Is that your primary volunteer work?

Yeah, most of my volunteer work is done through the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division 3, in Pearl River.  I’ve run various fundraisers for them and of course there’s the senior citizen’s luncheon that we do twice a year.  I’ve been doing that and kind of been chairman for that for the past 30 years.  We do a luncheon in November, right before Thanksgiving.  We do a luncheon for all the seniors in Pearl River.  We give them a dinner and entertainment and beverages so for a couple hours they’re entertained.  We do the same format right before St. Patrick’s Day.

What other type of work do you do for the Hibernians?

We raise quite a bit of funds for charity every year.  Every month, people apply to us for various things in the community and, over the year, we probably give in the area of $80-$100,000 away in charity.  One of our main functions is we raise money for different charities.  We also have a fellowship program and next Sunday, we have our awards program plus our Communion Breakfast and we’re probably giving away over $10,000 in college scholarships.  So it’s not just the seniors we reach out to.  Sometimes people come to us, say a person, a husband or a wife, is very sick in the community and we might run a fundraiser for them and try to raise money to augment their medical expenses or whatever they need money for.  We also give money to various charitable organizations.

So are you pretty much involved in whatever they need you to do?

I’m involved in not all the things, but I’m involved in fundraisers for our fellowships and stuff like that.  I’m involved fundraising for that because, obviously you’ve got to raise money to give away money.  So I’m involved in a fundraiser every year to raise the money for our charities, particularly our scholarship charities and some other charities too.

What roles or positions have you held within the organization?

Right now, in Division 3, I am the Grievance Chairman.  I was Vice President of Division 3.  I was President of the Hibernian House, which is a separate organization within the organization.  I was Chairman of the Communion Breakfast.  I’ve run dances for the organization and fundraisers for the organization over the years.

What kind of a time commitment has your work with the Hibernians been for you on a weekly basis?

It’s taken some time out.  We have an actual location in Pearl River and I’m in charge of rentals for the organization.  We rent out to anybody in the community, so that takes quite a bit of time. 

As far as the senior luncheon, that takes time.  You’ve got to contact the groups and make sure that they’re aware that you’re running it.  I’ve got to get all the people together for entertainment, because we have pipe bands playing, musical kids, musicians, we have a one man band or two man band.  It’s not just lunch and you’re gone in an hour, it’s a four-hour show that we put on.  So, that takes some time to arrange it, to get all the various cooks who come in and make sure that they’re there on time.  We’re all volunteers, nothing is paid out, we do our own cooking that day and for Thanksgiving. 

Obviously I don’t do everything myself.  The Hibernians help me out and we cook the meals for them.  At Thanksgiving, we give them a roast beef dinner instead of turkey, because we figure everybody’s sick of turkey.  We give them roast beef and there’s a fellow by the name of Dan Callahan that comes up and cooks for us every year and of course other people in the kitchen help him out.  Everybody volunteers that day and, it’s the same way before St. Patrick’s Day, he comes up and cooks corn beef and stuff like that.  So, there’s plenty of people that support me and it’s a great organization.

Are there any other organizations that you have volunteered for?

I used to work for the city, so I was past President of the Emerald Society for the city and past President of the National Institute of Government Purchasing Agents and past President of the Catholic Guild for the city too.  At the same time that I was working at the Hibernians, I was also president of those organizations, which are kind of volunteer organizations too, you don’t get paid for any of those things.

What did you do for work?

I’m retired from the city of New York.  I was a purchasing manager for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services for furniture and office needs.

How did you find the time to do all these things?

You find the time to do it.  If you’re asking me, did I have much time for myself, no, I didn’t, but you juggle things around and you find the time to do it.  You’re busy, running from here to there, but you find the time to do it.

What is it about volunteering that keeps you continuing to do it?

I like giving to people, helping people whenever I can.  I’ll probably never stop.

What has volunteering given you?

A sense of satisfaction.  Like I said, I feel good after it.  I think anybody feels good if they put their time out there and they volunteer for something and they see what it’s all about and you see smiles on people’s faces.  There’s so much going around in this world that you hear negative of, at the end of the day, you can say, well geez, I’ve helped somebody.

Can you describe to me one of your best or most meaningful memories as a volunteer?

Recently, when we volunteered for the senior luncheon, they come up to you at the end of the luncheon, a couple hours later, and they say, with a smile on their face, we really enjoyed the luncheon today.  Some of these seniors unfortunately don’t get out that much, so we feel great at the end of the day that we’ve done something for these seniors and you see the smile on their face and they see entertainment and they really enjoy it.

What advice would you give to someone who might be interested in volunteering, but hasn’t really taken that first step?

I would tell them to, through their organizations, church, synagogue or whatever, American Legion, especially when you retire, or before you retire, if you can find the time, it’s always nice to give.  A lot of people are members of an organization, whether it be American Legion, Elks Club, the church, they go there and come back and they say, yeah, I’m a member of so and so, but they never spend any time within the organization to find out what that organization needs.  So I tell people to get involved in your own organization and try to see what they need.  If you can help maybe just once a year, or every six months, or on Veteran’s Day, go help them put flags on the graves of veterans and stuff like that.

Know a volunteer who deserves some recognition and would be willing to be interviewed about their work?

Please contact Sam Schaeffer using the “email the author” button at the top of the article.