Carol Bigelow: Building Community by Volunteering

courtesy of Gary Bosley

Carol Bigelow donated $10,000 to Forestr.org for a model school garden project at Marshall Elementary School. 

courtesy of Dwight Perry

Carol Bigelow has been volunteering with the Castro Valley Rotary for local and international causes.

Carol Bigelow refuses to slow down when it comes to giving back to the Castro Valley community. 

“My mantra is ‘get the job done and just do it,’” Bigelow says. “I want to make sure it gets done and the money goes to the right place and the right people handle it and get the problem taken care of.”

The longtime Castro Valley resident is not often in the spotlight but is known as a force behind more than a dozen projects and service commitments. Over the last 60 years, her volunteerism includes working with the Castro Valley Rotary Club, Castro Valley Unified School District, Chanticleers Theatre, Castro Valley Center for the Arts, Kenneth Aitken and Hayward Senior Center, Friends of the Castro Valley Library, and the Hill and Valley Women’s Club, to name a few. One of her latest endeavors was to sponsor the Castro Valley High School Golf team during the “Day on the Greens” fundraiser, where the teenage girls received Second Place. 

At 82 years young, Bigelow spoke with the Castro Valley Forum about her path and what it takes to build community. First and foremost, she says she has a keen desire to help people who can’t help themselves. 

“It’s not about me, it's about the community,” Bigelow told the Forum. “It's about making a community a home, a place to walk downtown, and seeing these people with happy smiles on their faces.” 

Bigelow is the widow of Richard “Dick” Bigelow, the longtime Castro Valley realtor and community organizer. During Dick’s career, Carol raised their two girls and was a secretary for her husband. But Carol said after his passing in 2016, she decided to get more involved and make a name for herself. 

“When Dick passed, that emptiness was so hard to deal with and that's when I decided to do something uncomfortable and begin my involvement with different programs,” Bigelow said. 

She eventually found the Castro Valley Rotary Club, fell in love with the people and their purpose and immediately felt like a part of the group. 

“I knew some of the people, such as Dwight Perry because he and my husband had been friends,” Bigelow said. “In fact, my husband was Dwight’s mentor, so things have come full circle. I started getting active in the projects that were going on there. I love it.”  

While all the projects she works on are important, Bigelow says the ones that are most special to her are the ones she may never see the results of. For example, Rotary’s “Breath of Life” program provides oxygen tanks to developing communities for life-saving surgeries. Closer to home, Bigelow is a regular volunteer for meal programs that serve less fortunate families.

“Even though I couldn’t be there this year because I was sick, I was thankful that 50 people in Hayward and 35 people in Castro Valley got to be served lunch,” she said.

Growing up, Bigelow said her family moved around a lot. She said she learned at a young age to give to others because she came from simple beginnings. Staying put in Castro Valley has given her a place to serve others and build community through volunteering, she adds. 

“There’s that old saying no man or no woman is an island and that’s true,” Bigelow said. “I think we need to open our islands and see that there are there are things and there are people that need help if we just give a little more of our time and our empathy. I think that most people are born with some kind of love, and it’s up to us adults to teach our children that all those people that we can help will help us feel a lot better too.”