Charlie Weber: Farmington’s super volunteer

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Farmington is lucky to have people like Charlie Weber. If not for folks like Charlie, many projects would go incomplete unless extra dollars were spent. Charlie Weber is just one of those fellas who volunteers, and does it well.

Charlie first came to Farmington in 1983. He spent many years helping with the Toys for Town campaign. These days, he serves on both the Rambling River Center advisory board and the Farmington Parks and Recreation Commission.

In addition, Charlie is an active member of St. Michael’s Catholic Church, where he does a lot of volunteer work, as well.

But these days, Charlie has a pet project — the renovation of the old city hall into a new Rambling River Center. Charlie is one of the go-to guys on the project, putting in countless hours to help the community. He stopped by Friday so we could chat a little about what’s going on and why he does what he does.

How long have you been a member of the Rambling River Center?

It wasn't too long, I guess, after I retired, and I retired a little over 10 years ago. About that time.

You do a lot of volunteer work at the current Rambling River Center. What sorts of things do you do there?

I teach computer classes. I help set up tables and chairs, any kind of maintenance stuff that the city doesn’t take care of. Once in a while I get asked to answer the phones.

When the city council started considering the old city hall for the new RRC, your name came up as someone who would help with the project. Why is that?

When we remodeled (at the current site), I kind of did the remodeling over there. I organized it, I guess I got the bids and did most of the work myself... So that’s how I got involved in that.

I’ve done some of that work for myself, built a couple of houses for myself, and did some other kind of stuff like that, and I enjoy doing that. When this came up, I just jumped on it. I thought it was a good move for the seniors to get to expand the space and get some more programs. I always get the impression that the seniors are kind of, you know, left behind, especially with the sports, so I’ve been helping with that.

Don Hayes is the project manager, so I’ve been coordinating with him setting up a work schedule for the volunteers. In fact, it's going really good. Last Tuesday or Wednesday, I had to lay the volunteers off. We didn’t have enough for them to do. I think we’re way ahead of schedule for what we have to do over there.

What are you doing to help with that project?

We tore out rooms, put in a couple of walls. The only labor so far has been the electrician. Otherwise, so far, all the work has been done by volunteers. And the ... Sentenced to Serve. They came in and tore out a lot of stuff. They did a nice job.

Why are you putting in so much time on this?

It’s something I enjoy, and I have the opinion that if you’re going to use volunteers, then you have to volunteer. And then, you need to have some productive work for them to do.... We have a lot of seniors who have retired and who have a lot of talents....

It’s been going real well. I’m very happy with the volunteers that we’ve had. A good turnout. And I think, when they all help, they’ll have something in it and they’ll be more proud of it.

Do you hope to get anything out of it? Like maybe a Charlie Weber Room or library?

The answer is no. But we talked about naming rooms or whatever. The other day we were naming a room because one of the guys was doing a lot of work in it ... and I said ‘That's worth 10 bucks. If somebody comes along with 11 bucks, they get the name on it.’”

I’m not looking for any name what-so-ever, just a thank you from the seniors and I’m sure I’ll get that. I’ve gotten that already, and that's all I really need. And just to see the seniors enjoy it.

I’m not looking for any praise.

Tags: local area news, news, volunteer