Volunteer Spotlight
James Spinks, Super Volunteer
“All we need is a unicycle,” James Spinks says cheerfully, referring to his newborn identical twins and five older children. He and his wife, Rae, experienced a high-stress pregnancy in 2010 that resulted in the premature birth of their twins, Skylar and Gavin.
They were due in early January 2011; instead, they arrived on Oct. 29 and were placed in neonatal intensive care. Birth To Three staff eagerly awaited reports about how Rae was doing and how the twins were developing. The boys went home on Jan. 2.
The older children from James’ and Rae’s previous marriages have settled into the new routine. They are Isaac, 17; Paisley, 12; Jade, 11; Aaryanna, 10; and Tracynn, 8. James and Rae believe in parents giving their children individual attention, which is why each child gets a day. “That child can plan breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we do whatever they want. Rae and I are up to seven days a week now!”
For several years, James was a single dad. He took cooking classes to supplement what he had learned as a child from his mother and grandmother. While living in Montana, he took a parenting class, which is where he and Rae met.
In fact, Birth To Three’s parenting classes and support for parents were the reasons James wanted to volunteer here. “I had no access to programs like Birth To Three’s,” he says. “Dads need to bridge the gaps for their sons, being more nurturing and broadening their sons’ horizons. And dads need to have healthy relationships with their daughters.”
As a Birth To Three volunteer, James assists the communications director. His original duties were to assemble the agency’s brochures as well as Parent HelpLine material, and to track their distribution.
“James is always willing to take on extra or new tasks,” says Marilyn Milne, communications director. “He has even used a heat gun to loosen donor plaques from bricks so they could be refinished and he put his knowledge of scissor lifts, and his license, to work placing ceiling decorations at Birth To Three’s annual fundraiser!”
He has used his Excel® spreadsheet skills to reorganize the distribution list for our materials, and has greatly improving our recordkeeping and ability to predict when we need to restock.
And now, James has just combined his interest in supporting dads with his psychology major at Lane Community College by leading a monthly group, “Papas Playtime,” for Healthy Start/Healthy Families at Birth To Three. He leads the fathers in age-appropriate child development activities while sharing his own experiences with other dads.
James also serves on a parent advisory group in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at RiverBend Hospital.
His roles are a big change from his previous career as the owner of a drywall business. We look forward to further help from James, and to seeing more photos and videos of the twins!
