Public Official Gives Away Private Time

With his ruddy cheeks and mane of white hair, Orange County Clerk Gary L. Granville looks something like Santa Claus in a business suit.

And that is how many charitable groups view him.

“He is a terrific volunteer--a very hard-working man who uses all the resources available to him to help,” said Dolores Barrett, coordinator of social services for the Salvation Army in Orange County. “He’s more than willing. He’s always looking for an opportunity to give of himself.”

Granville, 62, is chairman of the Salvation Army’s social services committee and also serves as a volunteer bell ringer at Christmas. But his charitable activities do not end there.

For the last two years he has been coordinator of county employees in the United Way fund drive in Orange County. He is on the advisory board of a charitable group called Victim Witness/Domestic Violence, which helps battered and abused women. He helps as a volunteer when the armory is opened on cold or rainy nights to provide temporary shelter for the homeless. He supervises an internal charity fund used to help employees of the county clerk’s office in cases of individual emergency.

Granville, a former newspaper reporter, speaks fondly and eloquently of all the charities he is associated with. But a special light seems to shine in his eyes as he talks about his work with the Salvation Army.

“It’s phenomenal; it’s unbelievable the amount of services they provide,” said Granville. “The Salvation Army’s services are many: feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and providing emergency services, which are really being strained in these bad economic times.”

Granville’s charity work for the Salvation Army includes duty on the front lines--stationing himself at a Salvation Army kettle outside a department store, ringing a bell and asking for donations. As a volunteer rather than a regular Salvation Army member, he does not wear a uniform when he solicits.

Granville proudly noted that he has Salvation Army family roots. “My maternal grandmother, Rosa Faught, was a Salvationist,” Granville said. “I’ve always had a like for them. They’re the ones out there helping people with the most serious problems. They’re the people getting their hands dirty in work to help others.”

Granville, who has been county clerk since 1985, supervises one of the busiest arms of county government--a staggering load of paperwork and personnel matters is his daily responsibility. But he said it is his pleasure to make time, after work, to volunteer for charity.

“This will sound corny,” he said, “but I’m at an age and stage in my life when I have the opportunity to do these things, and it’s very important to me. I feel very fortunate. We can all make a difference, and to be able to make a difference is a blessing in my life.”

VOICES OF CHARITY IN ORANGE COUNTY. One in a series of profiles during the holidays.

Gary L. Granville, 62 Occupation: Orange County clerk Organization: Salvation Army Address: Salvation Army Social Services, 818 E. 3rd Street, Santa Ana, Calif. 92701. (714) 542-9750.