GBU Life recently selected Dan Marshall as the recipient of the 2022 GBU Volunteer of the Year Award. This award was given in recognition of his dedication to helping others and his outstanding service and contributions in the local community.

Dan volunteers monthly with numerous local nonprofits in the Akron-Cleveland, Ohio, area. Volunteering with Youth for Christ, he and a group of six other volunteers cleaned up the grounds of the City Life Center in Cleveland. Dan assisted with planting vegetables on a 17-acre farm for Cleveland Roots, an organization that provides fresh food to Cleveland’s Clark Fulton neighborhood. He was part of a team that started the volunteer process for hospice visits at Jennings Center, a new assisted living facility.

He is an active supporter of local women’s recovery houses like the Julie Adams House and Edna House. He helped with electrical work, painting and countertop installation during the Julie Adams House’s kitchen remodel. He also found a creative, meaningful way to support the women from the outside—landscaping the properties 

so the women staying at the houses would have pleasant environment. Similarly, he is a volunteer for Rahab Ministries, a human trafficking intervention organization. He and other men help with logistics from the outside while trained volunteers deliver gift bags and home-cooked meals to women in the community.

In addition, Dan volunteers with disaster recovery teams and has made multiple trips to help with tornado and flood clean up in Ohio and neighboring states. He networks with nonprofits throughout the area, talking about volunteering experiences and rallying others. 

When he is not volunteering, Dan works at a nursing home in a supportive role, cleans and paints—always using his skills to help others. As a runner, Dan runs wherever his disaster relief trips take him. He also travels to Alaska to visit family.

District 810 Fraternal Secretary Lynne Powers presenting Dan with the GBU Volunteer of the Year Award. 

“Dan’s volunteerism is based in his Christian faith, and he has a passion to help others, especially through disaster relief. And whatever the situation, Dan wants those in need to see that someone cares for them."

- Lynne Powers, Fraternal Secretary of District 810-Cleveland, OH