Gift People: Embarking on a Second Career

At 62, Bill Brandt-Gasuen has a rich history of volunteering in Portland including 16 years with Multnomah County Library, 15 with Friends of Seasonal and Service Workers and 10 with Race for the Cure. When he retired in 2002, the issues that concern him deeply—literacy, homelessness and poverty—motivated him to pursue a second career as a full-time volunteer for these organizations. Having recently reached 14,000 hours of service to the  library, Bill credits his civic engagement to his upbringing, an innate desire to serve and, in the words of President Obama,”... a mandate to assist others”.   Gift People are recorded conversations with civically engaged older adults, sponsored by Library Outreach Services, Life by Design NW and the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by Oregon State Library