By Mel Rubenstein
FAYETTEVILLE – This month’s column is a record setter because the volunteer comes from the Town of Jabalpur in central India, some 7,300 miles from Fayetteville, where he now lives.
While in India, Dhara attended the St. Aloysius Senior Secondary School, and in 1999 received his bachelors in electronics engineering. He moved to the United States to pursue a higher education at Syracuse University where he earned a maser of science degree in electrical engineering. While still a student, Dhara began working at Phillips Magnavox in Manlius and stayed with them beyond graduation.
In 2007, he received a master of arts in teaching at SUNY Empire State College. He is currently working towards a Ph.D. in teaching and curriculum at Syracuse University and is also enrolled in the School District Business Leadership program at the College of St. Rose.
Dhara went on to receive a CAS (Certificate of Advance Studies) in educational administration. CAS is a degree between an MS and a Ph.D.
In order to be an administrator in a school district one has to complete the CAS and take the state tests to get the certifications for being a school building leader and a school district leader.
Dhara’s interest in teaching has come to fruition, as the following resume will show. Starting as a substitute teacher, he went on to be a mathematics teacher, and served as an administrator in several Central New York school districts.
This includes Dhara being an assistant principal, a school principal, district coordinator for math, science and business, an assistant director for human resources and currently about to start as the superintendent of the Berlin Central School District in Berlin, NY.
Outside the field of education Dhara was a retail salesperson at Driver’s Village, business developer at Arcom Labs, and a radio frequency engineer for Philips Magnavox.
As time allowed, Dhara always had a desire to volunteer. He found many opportunities to do this when he joined the Rotary Club of Dewitt.
Rotary is a philanthropic organization that is 100% volunteer driven. This is where I met Joe Dhara, and why he is the Volunteer of the Month.
Through Dewitt Rotary, Dhara became involved with volunteering for the Rescue Mission and the Samaritan Center. Simply put, the Rescue Mission’s mission is; “We put love into action through shelter, food, clothing, and hope.”
The Samaritan Center is an Interfaith effort of community members who are committed to feeding the hungry and those in need in Central New York in order to promote their welfare, dignity and self-sufficiency. Dhara has also volunteered with other Dewitt Rotary members to maintain the Butternut Creek Trail, blood drives for the Red Cross, and at various events at churches and synagogues including “Feed My Starving Children” and lunch backpack programs.
“I have always enjoyed playing soccer so volunteering to be a coach for youngsters playing the game has been a nice outlet for me,” Dhara said. “Volunteering has brought me much joy, especially when my two boys fell in love with volunteering themselves.”
S Dhara’s volunteer experiences have resulted in unplanned results. For example, when he volunteered to join other Rotarians with the Red Cross blood drive to help with checking in blood donors, he ended up donating blood himself because there was room to accommodate him and they always needed more donors. Or, the time when his wife Robin, sons, and he went to pack sandwiches, and ended up cleaning the building because it needed to be done.
“I enjoy spending time with my family, volunteering for causes that are dear to us,” Dhara said.
Dhara has an interest in ancient history, especially if it is older than 2,000 years. He also enjoys astronomy and cosmology and learning about the latest discoveries in technology, medicine, and all things science. In addition to soccer, Dhara enjoys chess, football, and cricket, and hiking with his family at out-of- the-way places.
One of his favorite quotes from Mahatma Gandhi is, “The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
Dhara found his calling in education partly because it provides him an opportunity to advance the causes of equity and justice. Each year Dhara brings female students to an Expanding Your Horizons STEM conference at Cornell, or creating opportunities for students in urban school districts like Schenectady, to job shadow doctors and other professionals to increase their own interest in the respective professions.
“Through education, I love making a difference,” Dhara said.
Dhara believes that the contribution of all volunteers is bigger than the sum of their individual contributions, because there are positive ripple effects when we help each other and advance toward a more just and equitable society. He also believes that it is critical, for us a society, to imbue in the younger generations the ethics of volunteering so that they can carry on the torch.
“I don’t believe that I will ever stop volunteering,” he said. “When I see the effects of what my fellow volunteers and I have done, it gives me even more energy to keep going. I want to thank Dewitt Rotary for giving people like me the opportunity to engage with like-minded volunteers, and for creating opportunities so that we can continuously seek to make a difference in our society, nation and world, through volunteering.”
Dhara ended our discussion by sharing two quotes, one by Aristotle made more than 2,000 years ago: “What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.”
The other quote is more recently from Kofi Annan, the 7th Secretary General of the UN, who said; “If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever.”
To recommend someone with a stellar record of volunteering to be featured in this column contact Mel Rubenstein: [email protected] or call 315-682-7162.
Submitted photo
Joe Dhara and his family are active in their community and often lend their time to volunteer efforts.
