Turning Retirement Into A Full Time Job

Palo Alto (CBS 5)  -- George and Ruth Chippendale retired 15 years ago, but you would never know it by looking at their calendar. The Palo Alto couple has never been busier.

"I was doing quite a bit when I was working, but I'm still busier now that I've retired," George says.

Both set a hectic pace, all in the name of helping their neighbors. George mans the emergency help line for St. Vincent De Paul’s in East Palo Alto. He fields about a dozen calls each day.

"They call for rent, rent help, PG&E, they call for food," he says.

Many of those calls require a personal visit, and George tries to answer them all.

"Chippendale is not a stranger. He's family to everybody in East Palo Alto,” neighbor Allen McIntyre says. “Just about every house I go in, he's been in. And they know him by name. Every child knows his name."

McIntyre was president of the local St. Vincent De Paul’s when George volunteered to help.

"He don't look for money,” McIntyre says. “His heart is just that big and he gives -- he gives of himself in more ways than one, and the same with Ruth."

Ruth works at the Palo Alto Food Bank. She greets clients, registers them for assistance, and helps feed the hungry. After putting in a full day’s work, she and her husband can be found dishing up the Monday night meal at their local church.

To say Ruth and George are committed to volunteering in their neighborhood is an understatement. For over 40 years, it's been a way of life.

Their work continues season after season. Every Christmas, George and Ruth collect toys for children in need. Every summer, they spend their own money to send dozens of kids to camp.

Fellow volunteers say that they’re known and treasured throughout the community.

"Ruth will take children home if their parents don't pick them up. She'll take them home from camp when they come over,” says Navida Butler. “George will take them back and forth home to get school clothes and you know what else, people don't know - they spend a lot of their own money on some of the families that need help."

Now in their mid-seventies, the Chippendales have no plans to slow down. For a lifetime of service to others, this week’s Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to George and Ruth Chippendale of Palo Alto.

By Kate Kelly

For more information on how you can help, visit the St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Mateo at: www.svdp.org/sanmateo.