Very special congratulations to Fred Etcheverry for being selected as our July 2011 volunteer of the month.

Fred moved to Fernley 6 years ago from Reno. Prior to that, he lived in Quincy Ca for 5 years, and Los Angeles for 35 years.

He has been a volunteer at the senior center for two years, and has been a volunteer in the past as a coach and doing some fundraising for the YMCA.

Fred volunteers about eight to twelve hours a week setting up and running the Wednesday and Saturday poker sessions. He also sometimes helps with the Friday games.

He started this because there was a need and no one else wanted to step forward at the time so Fred decided he would. Many of the duties required for the job he volunteers for include assistance from fellow poker player Hershel Minyard. They jointly run the game, set up and clean up from the games. Decide how many tables will be needed.

They distribute the prizes to the winners. Fred say’s the players themselves also help out and do a good job with everything. It is often that the tables end up being a loud hollering and whooping mix of seniors, a quiet more reserved table and sometimes a mix between it all.

His family consists of his wife Diana, his son Peter and his wife Chrissy. He also has a grandson P.J. who is a senior at UNR.

Fred is a retired Engineer for Northrop Corporation.

When asked what he would say to others about volunteering Fred says, “try it… you’ll like it.” He also says he is a man of few words.

We all say Fred is an extremely polite man with a gentle soul who has one of the nicest smiles around! We all thank him for his dedication to the poker games and also for the help he lends when we have fundraisers.