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11/23/2016 07:30 AMIf you have something that needs doing, ask a busy person, as a saying goes. And with Gerri Lewis of Old Saybrook, it’s clear that a lot of people noticed she was busy—and asked her to do more.
“I like to stay busy. I don’t like to say ‘No’ to anyone and I love to help people,” Gerri says.
For the past three years, one of her many volunteer jobs has been to serve as board chairman of the on the Estuary Council of Seniors, Inc., Board of Directors. Before that, she served for one year just as a board member responsible for fundraising.
“My first year on the board, I co-chaired the fundraising event and auction Forty and Fabulous
, which brought in $34,000 for ECSI,” Gerri says.
After just a few months on the board, she was asked by the then-board chair to run for chairman since she was stepping down. Gerri was elected.
The ECSI Board she chairs oversees the operations of the Estuary Senior Center and the other associated programs including the meals prepared for the regional Meals on Wheels program serving seniors throughout a nine-town area.
“The Estuary Center is a wonderful place. There is a gym, health screenings, artist of the month, classes, activities, dinners, specialty lunches for holidays,” Gerri says. “I’m very, very involved here because I feel I have a job to do. I also have a great Board. They really work hard. And I want to credit the work of Executive Director Paul Doyle and the new chef Aaron Pratt.”
Fundraising events and the Estuary Center Thrift shop raise the revenue needed to support the Estuary Center’s many programs and its operations. The Thrift Shop alone each year raises about $120,000 for the center’s operations and programs.
“As president, I have board meetings once a month and as ex officio, I go to all committee meetings—finance, personnel, policy and by-law, fundraising, building and safety, nominating,” Gerri says.
So this responsibility keeps her busy, but she still finds time for more.
Gerri first moved to Old Saybrook in December 1999 from Clinton. She knew Old Saybrook well because her parents, George and Margaret Maynard, lived there.
That fall of 1999 she had two reasons to move to town. Her boss, Yale School of Drama Dean Stan Wojewodski, the man for whom she’d worked as assistant for five years, was leaving his post. So perhaps it was time to get a different job—and end the commute to New Haven.
“Working for Stan and being part of the Yale School of Drama was the best job of my life; we got along so well. I met actors, playwrights, dancers. I met movie stars who’d graduated from the Yale School of Drama and returned to visit. The environment was artsy, vibrant; everyone was either happy or sad. The job was so uplifting,” recalled Gerri. “We’re still in touch.”
So she found a new job in Old Saybrook working full-time as a paralegal for Attorney Tom Cloutier and a new house in the same town, a house on Main Street that was built in 1874, known as the Gelpke House.
“One reason I wanted to move to Old Saybrook was because the taxes were low,” Gerri says
A walk along Main Street with her daughter after moving in—and a chance tour of the Hart House—led to her first local volunteer job helping the Old Saybrook Historical Society. After a few years of volunteer work with the group, she was named a historical society trustee.
Other volunteer leadership positions soon followed: she’s a member of 10 years and a past officer of the Old Saybrook Republican Town Committee; member of 13 years and president for three (including this year) of the Rotary Club of Old Saybrook (which includes members from Westbrook and Old Lyme); and alternate member for six years of the Old Saybrook Zoning Commission, for which she has been a full member for the past seven years and elected secretary for past four years.
“Being on Zoning is important to me because I love the town of Old Saybrook and want to maintain its character. I loving living right in town. If I didn’t love my town so much, I would have grown tired of the work, but I look forward to going to the meetings and working with commission members,” Gerri says.
The town’s Lions Club in 2015 recognized Gerri’s volunteer leadership and tireless commitment to others by awarding her its Humanitarian Award.
Asked what drives her to commit to so many volunteer efforts, she reflected.
“My father was always volunteering for something or other growing up. Maybe I take after him,” Gerri says.
Not just a committed volunteer, Gerri also finds time in her schedule for paid work. For the past 30 years, she has worked as a paralegal for various law firms; currently, she works part-time as a paralegal for the law firm of Eichholz & Lanier in Old Lyme and is a paid clerk for three Old Saybrook town commissions—the Harbor Management Commission, the Board of Finance, and the Youth & Family Services Commission.
How does she find the time and energy for all for her many volunteer and paid hours and commitments? First, she says she doesn’t need much sleep—she rises every morning at 4:30 a.m.—and second, every few months, she finds she has to take a full weekend off just to recharge.
“My children are grown and I like to keep busy,” Gerri says. “And I guess I just can’t say ‘No.’”