Volunteer Spotlight: Fishing for Volunteers

Ernesto Dela Merced is a 64-year old Naples resident, a father of three, and a new grandfather. Last June, he was fishing just south of Marco Island with his son, who was on leave from the Army.  When a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer asked him, “Have any luck?” Ernesto and his son said they had, the officer took out his giant ruler and deemed their fish half an inch undersized. He issued several tickets and told Ernesto to show up in court. An undersized fishing violation is a second degree misdemeanor, carrying a $500 fine and two months in jail. You might wonder how this led Ernesto to the Collier Resource Center.

Ernesto was nervous. He’d never been before the court and it was “packed to the gills” with unmasked, unaware leisure fishermen like him. He never found out what punishment the judge might impose. A court clerk announced that anyone who would prefer to volunteer for one of several non-profits could skip court proceedings and avoid a fine. Was the ultimate goal to fish for volunteers? It worked.

Ernesto looked over the list of non-profits. He was already a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and St. Matthew’s House. But he had never heard of Collier Resource Center before.

CRC provides “fixers” for anyone in need at no cost, whether it be air conditioning for a woman in her 90’s, Christmas gifts for a family of 6,or furniture for recent Ukrainian refugees. We are relentless, compassionate caseworkers who know how to navigate the complex social services system. CRC only has two staff members yet manages to serve close to 1,000 people in need in Collier County every year. We can only do this because of volunteers.

Ernesto emailed Nina Gray, the CRC CEO at the time, and quickly determined how he could help. “What they were calling databases were really just a bunch of documents.” As an accomplished IT Manager at Sentara Healthcare, Ernesto used his computer science skills to get CRC up to speed with technology.

“We always think of information overload, but the first thing a needy person doesn’t have is information. This volunteer opportunity was the perfect intersection for me, to bridge the information chasm between the needy and the providers. And it is a chasm.”

To think, it all happened because of a handful of undersized fish.