November 7, 2014
RSVP – Lead With Experience: Joe Hutter Honored for his Service
By Dave Layton
Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Eastern Iowa and Western Illnois
As a reader of 50+ Lifestyles, you’re probably acquainted with Joe Hutter from his column “On the Go with Joe.” However, you may not know what a great example of leadership that Joe has provided through his National Service, both with RSVP and AmeriCorps. This year Joe was honored as a Distinguished AmeriCorps Alum at the AmeriCorps 20th Anniversary Celebration at the Iowa Capitol Building in Des Moines. I know that the first thing you think of when you hear of AmeriCorps is young people helping in parks and stuff like that. That’s mostly true, but in 1999 AmeriCorps reached out to retired people to see if it might be a fit for them. One of those was Joe. He was looking for a new challenge, and AmeriCorps provided an opportunity for him to work with former colleagues to create programs that would involve volunteers in making the community safer.
Joe began his AmeriCorps work at the RSVP office in 1999, not long after I was hired as a RSVP Coordinator. I saw how he developed new relationships, building on the many relationships he’d formed throughout his career as a public servant. By chatting on the phone with old friends in a relaxed casual manner, he developed and led the Scott County Sheriff’s Senior Volunteers. He also has organized our area’s first SALT (Senior and Law-enforcement Together) program, and organized the first Park Ambassadors program where seniors visited parks at different times and let police know if something was wrong. He also started our area’s first 911 cell phone program for seniors, where people donated their old cell phones to the sheriff’s department who refurbished them so the phones could call 911 only. Then he and RSVP volunteers helped to distribute them to seniors. I know of at least one time he told me about one of those phones helping a senior in an emergency.
Following his AmeriCorps term, Joe continued with RSVP, leading the cellphone program several more times. Plus he continued leading the Sheriff’s Senior Volunteers and growing the SALT program. He also joined the RSVP Advisory Council and played an instrumental role in bringing Operation Medicine Cabinet to the Quad Cities. That was a program where people could bring outdated medicine to law enforcement who, with the help of RSVP volunteers, properly disposed of it so it would not get in the wrong hands or in the water supply. Joe has served RSVP both as an organizer and as a fund-raiser. He found funding for the Sheriff’s Senior Volunteers to get a special vehicle to use, as well as thousands of dollars in sponsorship for RSVP recognitions.
As I mentioned before, Joe enjoys a challenge, but a challenge this year was one he’d never want. He was still recovering from a dangerous heart infection and knee problems when he received the AmeriCorps honor so he accepted his award from a wheel chair. I had the pleasure of driving him to Des Moines and hearing his stories and his plans. At the Statehouse he visited with current legislators as well as with Lt. Governor, Kim Reynolds and Iowa Volunteer Commission Director Adam Lounsbury. But it seemed he most enjoyed visiting with the Capitol security and gift shop employees, some of whom remembered him from his days a as a State Representative.
Joe’s health scare prompted him to readjust his activities. He continues his involvement with the Sheriff’s Senior Volunteers who are now called Scott County VIPS (Volunteers in Police Service), but he retired from the RSVP Advisory Council and other boards that require travel to scheduled meetings. Joe hasn’t given up new challenges, though. He’s accepted a challenge that’s far different than any he’s done before – Publisher of “50+ Lifestyles Magazine”! We at RSVP think that’s great! We know that Joe will do the same thing with this challenge as he has with others. He’ll treat it as an opportunity to do good things in the community!
