This
month's Volunteer of the Month is Steve McCowan. Steve donates tons of time to
his two favorite causes. First, he helps people file their taxes free of charge
with AARP's Tax Assistance Program at the Longmont Senior Center. Second, Steve
teaches seniors computer skills through the Senior Net program.
In 2002,
Steve retired from Shell Oil and became the IT manager for a consulting firm.
Steve then retired and decided that he was incapable of staying at home with too
much time on his hands and not enough to do. He found that volunteering filled
that void for him.
Steve said that because of his consulting career, he had to file his own taxes in multiple states at once. He thought that helping people file simple tax forms should be a snap. Wrong! Still he thoroughly enjoys being a tax aide because he is doing what he is good at - analyzing data. Steve gets enormous satisfaction helping people get through the confusing process of filing their taxes. Along the way, Steve makes certain to sign up his crew of volunteer tax aides as members with RSVP!
Steve's second volunteer job as an instructor at Senior Net keeps him busy and current with the technology sector. He signed up to volunteer for that program one year and became the instructor for the Longmont program soon after. Steve said he always wanted to be a teacher but married a young lady that did not want to be a teacher's wife.
He and his wife, Wanita, have now been married for 51 years. They are looking forward to doing some traveling in the future, and they love to go out to the mountains and hike almost every weekend. Steve loves to read, but probably won't have a lot of time to spare for reading until things slow down for him after April 15th. Steve and Wanita are looking forward to traveling at some point.
Because Steve donates so much of his valuable time, energy, and expertise enriching the lives of seniors in our community, along with his dedication to the mission of RSVP, it is our honor to call him our May Volunteer of the Month.
