“He’s done more than I ever expected,” Scott said. “He even took me to the airport on a Saturday morning and picked me up a week later even though it wasn’t during the work day.”
Chuck Bates was shaving one morning when he stopped for a moment and chuckled to himself. “I’d just bought a new Braun electric shaver. Half price. And I started to shave and I thought, ‘I’m shaving to go to work and I’m 86 years old.”
Chuck started with OPTIONS five years ago, a young octogenarian looking for a job. Retired from real estate, Chuck had been working as a job coach, but intrinsically knew he wanted to give more. “Job coaching was good,” said Chuck, “but it wasn’t personal enough.” Chuck wanted to contribute more. Through word of mouth he found OPTIONS and it seemed to be a perfect, instantaneous match.
“We like to say we hire people 18 to 80,” says OPTIONS HR Director, Randall Voeller. “And we believe things happen at OPTIONS for the right reasons. But hiring Chuck? That was a no-brainer.”
Throughout the years Chuck has worked with several OPTIONS clients and the day we sat down to talk, his client Scott sat down with us. Scott and Chuck have been together for several years now and the kinship and friendly ease between them is easy to see. They share a spiritual faith and a deep appreciation for classical music. Chuck and Scott often go to performances at the Clark Center’s “Sunday at the Clark” program in Arroyo Grande and Scott seems very appreciative to not only go but to go with Chuck.
“Scott is one of the most gracious guys I know,” Chuck said, recounting Scott’s generosity. And to hear each of them tell it, it would appear that they each give back to each other as much as they get, from teasing to friendship. “He’s done more than I ever expected,” Scott said. “He even took me to the airport on a Saturday morning and picked me up a week later even though it wasn’t during the work day.”
Chuck has a history of going above and beyond the call of duty. His first job was in 1924 picking strawberries when he was only five years old. “We had to place the strawberries carefully in the basket,” Chuck said, “because they would go directly to the grocery store.” A quart basket of strawberries only yielded a penny for the young picker, but he had a sense of pride and accomplishment even then. From strawberries he graduated to supplying the country store with sassafras root. After the sassafras root he moved to apples from his grandmother’s farm. After the apples he moved on to being a paperboy. When one of his customer’s fell far behind in payment, Chuck offered a trade for the bike the customer had leaning against the house. “He was happy to sell it to me,” Chuck said. “I cleared his debt and gave him another two dollars and repaired and restored the bike myself.”
But in all of his young working endeavors it is possibly the YMCA that had the biggest impact. Chuck’s best friend’s father was the secretary for the YMCA, so Chuck was able to attend camp for half price. He soon had a job working the check-in desk, as well. “The YMCA offered good moral, physical, and spiritual training,” said Chuck. Plus he learned to swim.
Able to only finish a portion of college, Chuck joined the Air Force. During WWII Chuck was stationed in Guam as a B29 engine specialist, taking all of the classes and training offered for the new plane. He took his responsibilities very seriously, knowing that the crew’s ability to fly safely from Guam to Japan and back to Guam in the same day rested on his reliability with the plane’s engine.
Chuck went on to marry and start a family and he remains close with his sons, one of whom lives in Cairo. Along the way he was in Real Estate for over 30 years, which brought him to the Central Coast. When it came time to retire, Chuck knew one thing for sure, “I did not want to be a couch potato.” His retirement led to the job coaching, which in turn led to OPTIONS.
“This job is extremely gratifying and it is a privilege to work with this quality of people,” Chuck said. “And I agree with the OPTIONS core values 1462%.”
So what is Chuck’s secret to living with such vitality and continuing to contribute to society? Chuck sites the things he learned as a boy at the YMCA camp: a healthy mental, moral and spiritual attitude. “Also,” he adds, “don’t worry so much.” Chuck says he knows his calling: “To help others. And through that I am rewarded.”
