Volunteer, Iowa Lutheran Hospital,  other organizations

Joanne Mahaffey has spent much of her life giving back to her community, and having a good time along the way.

Mahaffey has volunteered at Iowa Lutheran Hospital for more than 20 years, and has twice served as the Iowa Lutheran Auxiliary’s board president, including during the auxiliary’s 100-year anniversary last year. She also served on the hospital’s capital campaign for a new emergency department, chairing the committee for auxiliary and volunteer constituents.

“There have just been so many really neat experiences, and I’ve gotten to participate in so many of them that I’ve been blessed,” Mahaffey said.

As a resident of Des Moines’ East Side her entire life, Mahaffey was drawn to volunteering after her children started to leave home. She was encouraged by friends to get involved, and over the years found ways to get more involved because she enjoyed it so much.

“I enjoy the people,” Mahaffey said. “And all the groups that I’ve worked with have been good groups to work with. In volunteering particularly, the people that are there are the people who want to be there.”

In addition to her involvement at Iowa Lutheran, Mahaffey has worked on the Iowa Health Foundation board, which raises funds for Iowa Lutheran, Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Taylor House Hospice and Blank Children’s Hospital. She also helped on the capital campaign for Taylor House, which opened in 2003 as the first hospice on the East Side.

Volunteering has sometimes been a full-time endeavor, particularly during the Iowa Lutheran Auxiliary’s 100-year anniversary, which included an event almost every month. That experience, and many others, have been fun and rewarding, she said.

Part of the reward has been the ability to give back to not only the city in general, but the East Side in particular, which Mahaffey and her husband, Robert, are passionate about. Robert is a city councilman representing Ward 2, which encompasses the northeast corner of the city.

“Our church is there, our children went to school at East High, as we did. It’s been home forever,” Mahaffey said. “We’re pretty involved with just about everything that goes on, and we have a lot of friends on the East Side. … I think it’s important to be a participant in your community in any way you can to help it be better.”

As a volunteer and leader, Mahaffey has found it important to make sure things are fun. Equally important, and something she said she shared with her children, is that “you have to have respect, respect, respect.”

“If you can’t (show) respect in your home and in your community, how can we get along in this world?” Mahaffey said.