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Profiles in Sharing

Pearl Carpel
A Volunteer Who Thrives on… Variety!

 
“I started working at age 12 and quit at 68,” says Pearl Carpel.  But her inspiration to volunteer she says emanates from the many political demonstrations she participated in as a child. 
 
Quite inspired, it would seem; she has become “the volunteer’s volunteer” according to the PEARL CARPELPhiladelphia City Paper, volunteering for a host of organizations throughout the city.
 
The demonstrations may have been Pearl’s first exposure to the need to share her life with others, but other factors contributed as well.
 
Pearl earned a Bachelor’s degree in business education and a Master’s in social work at Pittsburgh University.  She then worked as a teacher in public and private schools, and as a home school visitor in a poor neighborhood of Philadelphia.  All of her work experiences strengthened her desire to give.
 
Which is just what she has done.
 
Pearl helped found the Philadelphia AIDS walk.  She volunteers at Philly Pride Fest, a celebration of gay and lesbian culture. 
 
She began volunteering with MANNA, an organization that provides nutritious meals to individuals living with AIDS, after the death of a close friend who had left funds to that organization.  Pearl has also volunteered for the Special Olympics for fifteen years, an event that she loves.
 
She is also devoted to the arts, and often ushers at places like the Wilma Theatre, Interact Theatre, the Kimmel Center and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. 
 
Though she calls herself a “lifelong Democrat,” Pearl also has volunteered at the Republican National Convention.  And since and she believes in the importance of a multi-party system, she volunteered at the Green Party Convention too!
 
Politics, the arts, AIDS fundraising, gay culture— the list goes on and on. It’s a rich and varied life in which she revels.
 
And which sustains her. 
 
Or as Pearl says simply: “I’m grateful for today—hopeful and eager for tomorrow.”