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Carl Erickson

NORTHAMPTON - Carl Erickson wakes up at 5 a.m. every morning to take his cocker spaniel, Oliver, for a walk around his Northampton neighborhood. Since retiring from his job at Solutions by Computer in Springfield over a year ago, his walk with Oliver gets his day started on his terms.

Then it's on to helping others - a habit that earned him this year's Kimball Howes Award for a lifetime of volunteer leadership in the Paragon Awards.

Four days a week, Erickson picks up the dirty laundry from the Interfaith Homeless Shelter and drives it to the Hampshire County Jail and House of Corrections to be laundered, or picks up the clean laundry and drives it back to the shelter. Three days a week, he oversees the meals distributed at the MANNA Soup Kitchen in Northampton, where he is president of the board of directors. He often finds time to sit and eat with guests.

He might also be going in to volunteer at Berkshire Children and Families, where he counsels and aids dysfunctional families, single-parent families and teenage mothers.

His regular volunteer work also includes serving at the food pantry of the Northampton Survival Center and advising the Hampshire County Emergency Food and Shelter Program Committee, where he helps to distribute federal aid for emergency relief of hunger and homelessness. Erickson also sits on the boards of most of the organizations he is involved with - where his titles range from "member," to "chairman," to "president of the board."

On top of that he continues to work for Solutions by Computer 12 hours a week, and finds the time to visit, along with his wife, Lynda, his four children and their families, including eight grandchildren, who are scattered across the state.

What does he do in his spare time, for fun, or to relax? "Volunteering fills in all the gaps, and unlike most people, I actually like to go to meetings and work with like-minded people on a good cause," said Erickson.

Erickson began his lifetime of service 30 years ago, when he and his family moved from the Boston area to Northampton in 1979. They soon became active members of the Edwards Church. "I started volunteering (at Edwards), when I picked up on the wonderful spirit of volunteerism in Northampton, so I started to volunteer for other organizations."

Erickson says it was a big change to find that spirit so alive in the community, after moving from a place with a different vibe. "In the Boston area, it had the tone of a big city, where everybody was pretty much independent of each other. But coming out here, you still had all the cosmopolitan aspects of a large city, except on a smaller scale. And there was more closeness among residents ... people seem more open and more friendly," he said.

Receiving the Paragon recognition has a personal significance to him.

"It is a special honor to receive the Kimball Howes Award, because we've been friends through church for over 30 years, and I'm really glad to be associated with him through the common denominator of volunteerism," said Erickson.

Howes, who nominated Erickson for the award, noted not only Erickson's dedication to volunteer work, but also the admirable manner in which he performs this work.

"He goes about his duties in a quiet, almost saintly way, without any fanfare or criticism, not seeking personal satisfaction, but only to help as much and wherever he can," Howes said. "There is no need to build a story about Carl because his record speaks for itself."

Erickson plans to remain engaged in his volunteer work. "I like to keep busy and I like to help people. I believe that we all need help and we all have help to give. You know, most of us believe in the golden rule, and I like to try to help people that I encounter in my daily life, if they need it."