MASSARO: Parker man benefits by his 30 years of service

By Gary Massaro, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 1, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Updated August 1, 2008 at 1:53 a.m.

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Vince Lucero helped himself by helping others.

He found that pitching in for others in need - Children's Hospital, a battered-women shelter, his church - was a therapeutic benefit by blocking out troublesome memories of his time in the Vietnam War.

His latest effort has been at Parker Task Force, where he worked in the food bank until ill health sidelined him.

"There are so many people who were being helped. I had an opportunity to translate, to help people with limited finances help pay rent or some of their bills to stop from being thrown out of their apartments," he said.

"It is something that really benefited a lot of people, and not just poor people. Some people were in $350,000, half-million-dollar homes. They lost their jobs. They had to choose between buying food and paying a bill."

Lucero is the Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer Award recipient for July.

The award is named in honor of the late super volunteer.

Lucero, 67, moved to Parker 12 years ago for the peace and quiet.

He started volunteering at the food bank seven years ago.

"Every day you go in it's a different challenge," he said. "It's not the same thing every day."

When he's not volunteering, Lucero is an author.

He has written a children's book - Mayor Geeps, a story written for children with disabilities. He uses broken toys as characters who help each other build a town.

"It shows children that they can get along in unity," Lucero said. "They're just like us."

Lucero lives with his own disabilities.

He walks with the aid of a cane or walker, courtesy of numerous back surgeries.

Later in life, he also lost an eye, which ultimately led to his latest book, I Should be Blind but Now I See.

"I tell how I lost my eye," he said. "I was legally blind. I could only see shadows. God, in his ultimate goodness, restored sight in one eye. And now I can drive."

Lucero has been volunteering for three decades.

Along the way, he took paying jobs at whatever was available.

He helped a locksmith. He worked in a rendering plant.

All the while, he volunteered, including the American GI Forum in Denver, where he is a member.

Lucero was reluctant to talk about his military service, especially after meeting a disabled veteran from the Iraq War.

"He was a quadriplegic," Lucero said.

"He wasn't waving banners. I don't want to use my military service to benefit myself. I was so humbled before him."

Infirmities aside, he said he will continue to help others whenever he's able, wherever he can.

"Faith is important to me because it encompasses everything we do every day by the grace of God," he said.

"God uses what we give as grace to somebody else."

• August 1, 2008

  1:12 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  SL10 writes:

  A vet worthy of respect. *Salutes*

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