T.O. resident wins prestigious award, trip to Washington

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers SPECIAL LADY-Thousand Oaks resident Joy Hagestad displays the Jefferson Award she won for her service to Senior Concerns. Hagestad will be attending an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Joy Hagestad has lived up to her name, say the folks at Senior Concerns in Thousand Oaks.

The Thousand Oaks resident has devoted years of selfless giving that have made the lives of countless elderly residents of Ventura County more joyful. For her efforts, the nonprofit, which offers quality-of-life support services for seniors throughout Ventura County, nominated her for a prestigious Jefferson Award.

She was one of six county residents presented the award at a ceremony earlier this month. The Jefferson Awards, started in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and others, recognizes the volunteer efforts of unsung heroes in communities around the nation.

Moreover, because Hagestad accumulated the most award points of the six recipients, she will travel to Washington, D.C. in June to attend the national awards ceremony.

"The whole thing came as a surprise," said Hagestad.

Newly retired from the credit department of Gelson’s supermarket in 1991, Hagestad was urged by two friends to volunteer as a board of director for Senior Concerns. Right away she realized the organization’s thrift store was in dire need of an overhaul because it wasn’t making a profit. Hagestad and other volunteers cleaned the store from top to bottom, and she hired a new manager. The first day it reopened, the store made $254 in profit and the first year, over $53,000. The store has been in the red ever since.

With Deryl, her husband of 60 years, by her side, Hagestad worked to enlarge the store and its inventory. The two of them coordinated the expansion and the crew of volunteers. The Hagestads also worked together on fundraising projects, with Joy serving as the board’s fundraising chair.

Sandra Bishop, president of Senior Concerns, said the Hagestads got their family of four children, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren involved in Senior Concerns projects, and helped raise over $1 million for the organization.

"She’s a tough, tough manager," said Bishop of Joy Hagestad. "She has a good business sense about her. She has a kind heart but is also a tough business woman."

After serving the nonprofit for the last 13 years—devoting more than 1,000 hours each year—Hagestad recently decided to retire. She’s now a board emeritus.

"I’m old and tired," she said. "We’re talking 14 years after I retired from a paying job. . . . (But) I’m very happy that I was able to do it. It helped so many people."

Hagestad credited her husband—who’ll accompany her to Washington—for her longevity in volunteer service, which also includes work at Los Robles Hospital and at Community Conscience, a nonprofit that constructs buildings and leases office space to other nonprofits.

"We’re partners. I couldn’t have done this without his help," she said of her husband.