(Posted November 2023)
Chuck grew up in Arlington, VA, and credits his mother for inspiring him to help others, both as a volunteer and with his professional career choices. His mother volunteered with the PTA and with his Cub Scouts pack and both parents volunteered with the Arlington Ridge Civic Association. Chuck participated in Boy Scouts throughout his youth and became an Eagle Scout.
His mother also helped others in less official ways. There was a severe storm that came through in the late 1960s and one of the families in his neighborhood had massive flood damage to their brick home. His mother immediately went to help them and did loads of laundry. Her actions served as a model for how Chuck’s family learned to meet people where they were and give back whenever they were able.
Chuck went to James Madison University (JMU) and double majored in Political Science and Public Administration. He volunteered with the Circle K club, which was under the Kiwanis service organization. Chuck was instrumental in helping to plant the “seed” for what would later become the Center for Service Learning at JMU.
After graduating from JMU, he lived in Staunton, VA, and worked as an eligibility worker with Social Services. Career and life then took him to Charlottesville, VA and Columbia, South Caroline before landing back in Northern VA when his then wife got a job in Fairfax County Public Schools and Chuck began working as an Employment Specialist for Fairfax County in 1983. He became a supervisor a few years later, then a senior case manager in the new Dept of Human Development (which later became Dept of Family Services). In 1997, he returned to school and got his Master of Social Work degree from Virginia Commonwealth University (Northern VA campus).
Throughout his decades-long career with Fairfax County, Chuck witnessed and experienced many changes as county organizations restructured and altered business processes in significant ways. He had coordinator roles in the View Mentoring program, then with Befriend-a-Child (mentoring program for at-risk youth) and then Befriend-a-Parent (adult-to-adult mentoring, which no longer exists). His final chapter as a county worker was in Foster Care and Adoption and Post-Adoption Services.
Chuck has had many roles throughout his life and his most prized are father and grandfather. He has three adult children- Peter, Claire, and Sam. Peter lives in Florida with his family, and the other two are here, locally. He has 3 grandkids in total (2 boys, 1 girl), ranging in age from 3 months to 3 years.
Chuck Berlin is caring and strives to help improve others’ well-being, whether it’s someone he’s close to personally, someone he’s just met, or a client we serve. Volunteer Solutions is thankful and fortunate to have him as one of our volunteers!
If you’d like to volunteer to be a social visitor, grocery shopper, or provide support at one of our senior center locations, please go to bit.ly/SocialVisits, bit.ly/GROCERYSHOP, or bit.ly/SeniorCtrOpps, or check out the full list at bit.ly/VSVOLOPPS.
This article is part of the Department of Family Services Older Adults Volunteer Solutions Caring Community Updates e-news – providing a variety of updates and articles about our volunteers in action. Learn more about Volunteer Solutions.