Jim Gribble has been volunteering with Achieve Tahoe for 23 years. Over that time, he has been instrumental in keeping Achieve Tahoe’s program facilities safe, clean, and accessible.

“I retired in 1997 and moved to Tahoe. While skiing at Alpine I was impressed with all that Achieve Tahoe and their volunteers were doing to make peoples lives better.”

For his first year, Jim volunteered as one of our adaptive ski instructors. However, he quickly realized his skill set was better suited to helping maintain our facilities.

“As a retired carpenter and general contractor I decided it would be more beneficial to use my skills for building maintenance and ski related projects. There are a lot of memorable projects over the years. Some are designing and building the 3-deck ski racks for bi-skis, painting the inside and outside of the building with other volunteers, and building lockers for volunteers.”

Jim’s help has been key in keeping our program center functional and accessible to both our participants and our staff.

“Having Jim’s help with carpentry and building maintenance over the years has been invaluable,” says Marina Gardiner, our Guest Services Director. “Any time that I ask for his help to fix something or create something new, he figures out how to do it and makes it better than I could have imagined. For example, when we needed a wheelchair ramp for the outside Front Desk Office during COVID, he figured out how to build one in the small space available, while also creating something that was easy for me to use independently.”

For Jim, volunteering has shaped his experience in Tahoe since he has retired.

“For me, working with Achieve Tahoe has made life’s harder times seem less important. I have received more from volunteering than I have given. My favorite part of volunteering is doing something beneficial for a really worthwhile organization and working with staff and all of the older and younger volunteers. I hope I have made Achieve Tahoe a nicer and better place to work and volunteer. It has been a pleasure working with such nice people especially Cindy and the appreciation she shows for the volunteers.”

Looking back on his experience, Jim encourages everyone to give in whatever way is most meaningful to them.

“If you have time to give, or just money, you will have a better perspective on life and appreciate what you do have. Doing something to make other peoples lives better is humbling and rewarding in many ways.”

Thank you Jim for all your invaluable help over the years! Your help has been instrumental in creating an accessible and welcoming space for all our volunteers.