Graves honored as top chamber volunteer

SANDPOINT — After retiring from the parish ministry, Paul Graves refocused his purpose.

Those efforts led to the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce honoring him as its volunteer of the month for July. Graves, who moved to Sandpoint 25 years ago to become the pastor of Sandpoint United Methodist Church, later decided to make it his family’s special life-long home.

Since 1996, he has written a faith-and-values column for the Spokesman-Review. He later started writing two age related columns contributing to the Bonner County Daily Bee with “Dear Geezer” and United Methodist Conference newsletter “Nurturing Elders” since 2009.

In January 2012, Graves started hosting biweekly Geezer Forums which explore and discuss aging issues. In 2006, he helped develop the Bonner County Circles Initiative, a relationship-based strategy for getting people out of poverty.

For the last six and a half years, the group has held weekly dinner meetings with people in poverty who are working to develop inner and community resources so they can become more economically, socially and emotionally self-sufficient. The other part of the Circles Initiative mission is to reach out to community groups to advocate for changes that will eventually eliminate the complex barriers to keep people in poverty.

“Service in the community has always been part of who I am, from my teen years until now,” Graves said. “I count it a high privilege to be in community with other persons and we have so much to learn from each other and to honor each other with our caring for one another.”

His efforts are large and his roles are vast, chamber president Kate McAlister said.

In addition to his other role, Graves also is a founder of the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force, was a volunteer chaplain for Bonner Community Hospice for 22 years and served as a Sandpoint City Councilman and mayor of Sandpoint.

He is currently part of a multi-disciplinary team focused on elder abuse and domestic violence.