Teacher finds time to lead volunteer rescue squad

Tenth in a 12-part series.

A decision to tickle the taste buds has led to a long-term volunteer commitment for Jim “Mac” MacDonald.

In 2004, MacDonald and his wife, Joyce, rode their motorcycle down to the Dew Drop Inn in Scottsville for a meal. After eating, they met three members of the Scottsville Volunteer Rescue Squad who were leaning on their emergency vehicle eating ice cream cones.

The rest has become the stuff of legend around the rescue squad, MacDonald said.

“We started talking about the rescue squad and they encouraged me to come to a meeting,” MacDonald said. “Once I got there I knew it was where I needed to be. I felt like an extra pair of hands there would be helpful.”

Although the Albemarle County Department of Fire Rescue handles emergency calls during daytime during the week, a volunteer staff takes care of calls in the evenings and on weekends and holidays.

The Scottsville squad covers territory in Albemarle, Fluvanna, Buckingham and Nelson counties.

A firefighter in his younger years, MacDonald has spent most of his professional career as an educator and school administrator. He currently teaches Spanish at St. Anne’s-Belfield School.

Over the years, he worked with ambulance transport for a private service, but didn’t get the chance to volunteer until he moved to Central Virginia. Once he finished working as a school administrator and as a coach, he found a way to give back by volunteering for the rescue squad one night a week in Scottsville.

Soon, he took more classes and took on some on-call hours. More than once, he’s made the 50-minute, one-way drive from his home in Earlysville to answer an emergency call to assist other squad members.

“It gives me the chance to give a little back to the community and to work with some incredible people,” MacDonald said.

From the late 1990s to 2005, MacDonald helped sustain and rebuild the motorcycle safety training program at Albemarle County schools.

He left the part-time position to focus on volunteering with the rescue squad.

After several years of being a volunteer, MacDonald was voted squad chief in 2008, and was recently re-elected to the non-paid post for the coming year.

“I’m the official toilet paper buyer,” he said. Since heading the squad, MacDonald has worked to recruit new volunteers and energize the existing ones.

The squad has 35 volunteers, but hopes to almost double that number in the next year, said Rita Krenz, deputy chief of night operations for the squad.

“Mac has led us through a very difficult year, as we struggled with low company morale, shrinking budgets and the countless other challenges which face those who volunteer to deliver emergency medical services,” Krenz said. “He has a way of making everyone feel important. We’ve been able to work as a group with a strong leader in front.”

His co-workers also recently voted him officer of the year for the second year in a row.

MacDonald credits St. Anne’s officials and staff for making it possible for him to give so much of his time volunteering with the squad. He has missed faculty meetings and left his classroom early with others in charge so he could attend to squad duties.

“I love that I work for a place where [volunteerism] is so important,” MacDonald said. “I couldn’t do this without the school’s support.”

David Lourie, St. Anne’s’ headmaster, said that MacDonald’s volunteerism is just what the school supports. Along with teaching, MacDonald is also the lights and sound technician for the school’s special events and handles emergency medical needs students and teachers might have during the day.

“He wears so many hats and he wears them well,” Lourie said. “He’s a great example for the students because he gives so much. He leads by example.”

MacDonald now spends every Saturday night and a few hours Monday nights on duty for the rescue squad. During the summer, he spends many more hours working with and training other volunteers.

He has even started a program to teach Spanish to EMS workers and runs some lessons by his St. Anne’s students beforehand.

“There are a million reasons not to volunteer, but only one reason to do so,” MacDonald said. “That reason is to make a difference.”