Attorney Looks Out for Others

Like many good ideas, R. Rex Parris’ concept of a database that would match community volunteers with local social agencies had been floating just out of reach, when suddenly it came to him.

The Lancaster lawyer, a longtime Antelope Valley activist, was busy finding volunteers for a child-safety program when he realized there were plenty of people eager to participate in community programs who didn’t know how to get on board.

Thus was born Valley Volunteers, a one-stop agency that hooks up volunteers with organizations and schools seeking help.

“We want to make this community a much better place to live by getting 500 to 1,000 volunteers involved each week,” Parris said. “This community could blossom in ways we can’t even dream of right now.”

The organization, housed in Parris’ Lancaster law office, has placed 25 volunteers since its inception two months ago, with 22 people awaiting placements. It has signed up 80 agencies so far.

“People have called us, wanting to volunteer, but they said they just can’t get agencies to call them back,” said Danielle King, Valley Volunteers’ program director. “Teenagers want to give their services when they’re off-track at school. We’re hoping to place them all.”

Parris, the married father of four, devotes much of his time and fund-raising skills to organizations that help young people, especially abused children.

With Carrol Parris, his wife of 14 years, the attorney organized the Lancaster Child Abuse Task Force in 1994.

It brought together doctors, lawyers, teachers, family-services case workers and police to work on cases of suspected child abuse.

When a child is admitted to High Desert Hospital with suspicious injuries, Parris said, there is now a team in place that alerts the proper authorities, who begin an investigation.

“Rex does everything in his power to prevent child abuse,” said Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts. “From the time he was a student at Antelope Valley College, he’s expressed an interest in helping children. He’s exemplary in terms of giving of himself and giving to our region.”

Parris said his own hardships during childhood taught him about the importance of a stable home environment.

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Raised with three siblings by a single mother on welfare, the Lancaster native dropped out of high school in 10th grade, in part because his night-shift job as a busboy and dishwasher left him too tired to study.

He enrolled at Antelope Valley College at 19, after a scrape with the law and an unpleasant work experience made him realize that his future depended on getting an education. He graduated from Southwestern University School of Law in 1980 and opened his own law firm in 1987.

Parris is active with Antelope Valley Hospital’s Healthy Homes program, in which inexperienced parents receive five years’ assistance raising their children. He also organized, with his brother, Robert Parris, the Lancaster Crime Task Force three years ago. That group created Safewalk, a program in which trained volunteers get elementary school children home safely.

“Rex helps people in the community and helps them get involved,” said Lea Butterfield, director of Healthy Homes. “He’s a godsend in the sense of advocacy and caring about families in the community.”