by Kristen Karig, Public Relations

Dick Dalla Mura proudly shows off a red-leafed Sour Wood tree growing in the yard of his Mt. Pleasant home. “And people say we don’t have color in Charleston in the fall,” he jokes.

As a master gardener, Dalla Mura gives talks to gardening clubs and other groups around the Lowcountry and helps solve the dilemmas of home gardeners calling the Clemson Extension Service’s help line.

But horticulture isn’t Dalla Mura’s only passion. Since his retirement from the Navy in 1981, he has devoted countless hours to volunteer work in the Lowcountry.

Most recently Dalla Mura helped get the MUSC Older Adult Crime Victims Center (OACVC) van service on the road. Working with OACVC director, Connie Best, Ph.D., and co-director Ron Acierno, Ph.D., he helped select and purchase the minivan, and now spends time as a volunteer driver, transporting patients to and from their appointments. He’s also recruited several of his “old navy buddies” to serve as volunteer drivers.

“Much of elderly abuse is by friends and family, so the victim is very reluctant to turn them in, much less ask for a ride to the crime victims center,” he said.

Working with the crime victims advocate of the North Charleston Police Department, Dalla Mura also identifies and contacts older victims of crime who could benefit from the services of the OACVC.

“It’s a matter of seeing the need for something to be done about a problem and going in and helping,” Dalla Mura said, “because whether its gardening or adult abuse there will never be enough money to hire people to solve all the problems. It’s important for anyone who has the time and ability to do something to help.”

And that’s exactly what Dalla Mura and other members of the community did when they founded the Exchange Club Child Abuse Prevention Center more than 10 years ago.

Representing the Hollywood Exchange Club, Dalla Mura worked with other tri-county Exchange Club representatives to raise money for the center, which was founded under the umbrella of the Carolina Youth Development Center.

During the past decade he has held leadership roles in both organizations. He has served as both a member and president of the Exchange Club Center Board of Directors. He has also served as both a member and chairman of the Carolina Youth Development Center Board, and he recently assisted in the search for a new director.

Dalla Mura has enjoyed seeing firsthand the progress the Child Abuse Prevention Center has made through the years. “The center is effectively working not just to deal with abuse that already exists, but to stop it before it starts,” he said. The center offers parenting classes throughout the tri-county area and works tirelessly throughout the year to promote awareness of the problem of child abuse.

Dalla Mura also saw a need several years ago to recognize the efforts of social workers in the fight against child abuse. “So often there is criticism of professional social workers. There is rarely an effort to praise truly professional work,” he said. So Dalla Mura helped create an annual award to recognize an outstanding social worker each year. “We’re making them aware of how much we appreciate their work,” he said.

Involvement with his church, St. Mary’s, is also a priority to Dalla Mura. As a church volunteer, he and his wife Cathie regularly visit shut-in church members or those in nursing homes. Now serving as president-elect of the Mt. Pleasant Exchange Club, Dalla Mura has taken on the search for sponsors of the annual Isle of Palms Connector run—a major Exchange Club fundraiser for the Child Abuse Prevention Center. And he shows no signs of slowing down. He even makes time for tennis twice a week.

“Volunteering is something that is easy to do,” Dalla Mura said. “It’s about making life just a little bit better for other people.”