Volunteer Profiles
"Get involved! You can't help but meet nice people, and it will enrich your life."
- Susanna Chabinak-Uhlig
Meet Susanna Chabinak-Uhlig - by Kate Krayer
If you've taken an OLLI class that meets at the Judea Reform Congregation on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, then you've likely received a warm and friendly greeting from OLLI host at JRC, Susanna Chabinak-Uhlig.
Like so many OLLI members, Susanna had a rich and interesting pre-OLLI life. Originally from Baltimore, she moved to Raleigh with her husband in 1967. Susanna's volunteer spirit revealed itself early when, after the birth of her special needs daughter in 1969, she became an active volunteer for many community based programs such as Special Olympics - work she continues to this day.
For a time, Susanna and her husband owned a combination health food store/wine store in Cameron Village. Later she went back to school to get her MBA, and then went to work for General Telephone (later known as Verizon) as a finance professional.
Susanna first learned about OLLI in 2004 (when it was DILR) while serving on her townhome community board.
Having retired from General Telephone the year before, she was ready for the new opportunities for learning, growing, socializing and volunteering that OLLI offered. In Susanna's first class “The Joy of Music”, she experienced what was to become for her the best byproduct of OLLI membership: great new friendships. “A lady sat down next to me and said, ‘This is your first OLLI class? Welcome!’ - and I knew I was going to gain more than knowledge.”
Among her favorite classes have been Tai Chi, The Federalists, Chinese Brush Painting and Da Vinci. “One of the best and most unique things about OLLI is that you have instructors teaching subjects outside their profession – but on which they are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate. That really brings the subject to life.”
Motivated to meet and know more OLLI members, Susanna began volunteering her first semester, stuffing envelopes for class registration. She also worked on OLLI retreats, bulletin boards, and in various other volunteer capacities, until eventually becoming Chair of the OLLI Activities Committee. In that role, Susanna guided the planning, management and execution of events like the Fall Picnic, Fall and Spring Retreats, special tours of the Duke Lemur Center, and more. And every semester since she first joined OLLI, Susanna has volunteered as a class assistant - helping the instructors, and recruiting fellow students to volunteer.
In recognition for her contribution to the OLLI program, Susanna received the Bill Wright Award for Distinguished Service in 2011. The Wright Award recognizes the OLLI volunteer who has provided “outstanding, over-the-top service to OLLI over many years.” While the Wright Award was certainly an honor, for Susanna the real reward of OLLI volunteering is the friends she has made, and continues to make, among the extended family of OLLI. Asked what advice she would give to prospective volunteers, Susanna says, "Get involved! You can't help but meet nice people, and it will enrich your life."
Susanna’s volunteer contributions are not limited to OLLI. As noted earlier, she has a long association with special needs organizations; she is a certified Durham Master Gardener, she also volunteers at Central Orange Senior Center, the library, and with Duke Gardens plant propagation team.
If Susanna could have any wish for OLLI, it would be “a permanent home facility with funding so that it can be maintained, so we can continue to offer great classes at a reasonable price to a diverse spectrum of people.” That would help ensure OLLI’s greatest benefit of all, in Susanna’s words: “Lifelong learning that enriches your mind and your soul.”
Like so many OLLI members, Susanna had a rich and interesting pre-OLLI life. Originally from Baltimore, she moved to Raleigh with her husband in 1967. Susanna's volunteer spirit revealed itself early when, after the birth of her special needs daughter in 1969, she became an active volunteer for many community based programs such as Special Olympics - work she continues to this day.
For a time, Susanna and her husband owned a combination health food store/wine store in Cameron Village. Later she went back to school to get her MBA, and then went to work for General Telephone (later known as Verizon) as a finance professional.
Susanna first learned about OLLI in 2004 (when it was DILR) while serving on her townhome community board.
Having retired from General Telephone the year before, she was ready for the new opportunities for learning, growing, socializing and volunteering that OLLI offered. In Susanna's first class “The Joy of Music”, she experienced what was to become for her the best byproduct of OLLI membership: great new friendships. “A lady sat down next to me and said, ‘This is your first OLLI class? Welcome!’ - and I knew I was going to gain more than knowledge.”
Among her favorite classes have been Tai Chi, The Federalists, Chinese Brush Painting and Da Vinci. “One of the best and most unique things about OLLI is that you have instructors teaching subjects outside their profession – but on which they are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate. That really brings the subject to life.”
Motivated to meet and know more OLLI members, Susanna began volunteering her first semester, stuffing envelopes for class registration. She also worked on OLLI retreats, bulletin boards, and in various other volunteer capacities, until eventually becoming Chair of the OLLI Activities Committee. In that role, Susanna guided the planning, management and execution of events like the Fall Picnic, Fall and Spring Retreats, special tours of the Duke Lemur Center, and more. And every semester since she first joined OLLI, Susanna has volunteered as a class assistant - helping the instructors, and recruiting fellow students to volunteer.
In recognition for her contribution to the OLLI program, Susanna received the Bill Wright Award for Distinguished Service in 2011. The Wright Award recognizes the OLLI volunteer who has provided “outstanding, over-the-top service to OLLI over many years.” While the Wright Award was certainly an honor, for Susanna the real reward of OLLI volunteering is the friends she has made, and continues to make, among the extended family of OLLI. Asked what advice she would give to prospective volunteers, Susanna says, "Get involved! You can't help but meet nice people, and it will enrich your life."
Susanna’s volunteer contributions are not limited to OLLI. As noted earlier, she has a long association with special needs organizations; she is a certified Durham Master Gardener, she also volunteers at Central Orange Senior Center, the library, and with Duke Gardens plant propagation team.
If Susanna could have any wish for OLLI, it would be “a permanent home facility with funding so that it can be maintained, so we can continue to offer great classes at a reasonable price to a diverse spectrum of people.” That would help ensure OLLI’s greatest benefit of all, in Susanna’s words: “Lifelong learning that enriches your mind and your soul.”