This is the 11th annual California Retired Teachers Week. It is time to recognize the volunteer service teachers provide in our community.

Members in one local organization, California Retired Teachers Association Desert Roadrunner Division, logged more than 39,000 hours of volunteer service last year.

Anywhere you go in the Coachella Valley, you are likely to find retired teacher volunteers. They distribute food, drive seniors to appointments, work at hospitals, usher at theaters and tutor in schools. Retired teachers work as docents at museums, participate in service organizations, help in churches, and serve on civic boards, all with no financial compensation.

Here are only three examples of how California Retired Teachers Association Desert Roadrunner unpaid volunteers contribute to the community:

Helping the USO

When the USO (United Services Organization) Palm Springs Center opened, David Lutes was appointed public relations coordinator. He played Santa for 600 children at the Twenty-nine Palms Marine Base, drove items from the desert to the base thrift store and organized volunteers for parades and Marine band concerts.

He dressed as Uncle Sam in last year's Palm Desert Greens Christmas Golf Cart Parade. He has logged more than 1,000 volunteer hours with the USO and he continues to volunteer there weekly.

Young at art

Almost 20 years ago, California Retired Teachers Association Desert Roadrunner members Myra Byrd, Betty Morgin and Mary Shmorhun began to coordinate the Young at Art summer program at the Coachella Valley Museum and Cultural Center in Indio. Nearly two decades later, Myra and Betty are still at it, with the help of Mary Minamide. This year's program featured four one-week class sessions in either clay or drawing and other media. Students attended two-hour classes Monday through Friday.

More than 100 children, 8 to 12 years old, participated. The program ended with a two-hour artists' reception and show of selected student work on July 12.

Reading Day

This is the third year that California Retired Teachers Association Desert Roadrunner member Debbie Knight has coordinated Reading Day at the Indio Fashion Mall. This one-day activity was initiated in 1993 by Delta Mu chapter of the education society Delta Kappa Gamma International. Kindergarten through third-grade students in valley schools were invited to listen to community leaders read books at the Indio Fashion Mall on Saturday, April 4. Children who listened to a single reader received a free book, a free balloon and ice cream.

About 250 children participated in this event, along with Desert Roadrunner members Janet Benavidez, Ann Copeland, Joan Linn, Pat Mauritzen, Mary Minamide, Betty Morgin, Judy Petersen, Kathleen Ross and Helen Smith.

The California Retired Teachers Association is the state's first and foremost organization completely dedicated to the concerns of retired public school educators. Founded in 1929, the organization now has more than 52,000 members in 89 local chapters, called divisions, throughout the state. Last year, members reported donating nearly 2.7 million hours of volunteer service to the community.

The Desert Roadrunner Division, established in 1992, now has 327 members. Membership is open to any educator, active or retired, and to any person who agrees to support the purposes of the California Retired Teachers Association.

Those interested in joining can contact the author, Helen Smith.

Helen Smith is communication chairwoman for the California Retired Teachers Association Desert Roadrunner Division. She taught at Palm View Elementary School in Coachella for 28 years. E-mail her at hindiosmith@gmail.com.