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Volunteer Spotlight – Phil Ross

Since retiring at the end of 2016, Phil Ross has had no problem keeping busy as he is a man who wears many hats. Among those are that of a volunteer, husband, father, world traveler, nature enthusiast, and the list goes on.

After taking some time off to travel in 2017, Phil took up volunteering. “We have been fortunate with a great family, great kids, and it is time to give back to the community,” says the father of two. Phil also jokes, “My wife and I can stay married longer because I am out of the house half of the time.”

Phil began his work with the Dublin Food Pantry in 2018 but splits his time between Dublin and the Mid-Ohio Food Collective. Luckily for DFP, Phil serves as the delivery driver between the two locations and as the prime pantry restocker for the Pantry. “On Mondays, I go down to Mid-Ohio Food Collective and I pick out the skids of food that have been pre-ordered by Jim Wilson,” he says, “I am bringing back 2500–3000 pounds of food and unloading it with other people and restocking the pantry.” 

It is not unusual for Phil to load up his personal vehicle with extra products from the floor of Mid-Ohio Food Collective or local businesses with products that stores have rejected, but are still in good condition.

Encouraged by the future of the pantry, Phil comments on his excitement for the new facility saying, “It’s gonna be a significant improvement to our operations. Much more efficient and we’ll be going back to what we refer to as a choice program—where people will be coming back inside and picking out what they want rather than us filling out shopping carts and taking them to their cars.”

We recently had the opportunity to talk with Phil Ross about some of his favorite things outside of volunteering. 

Tell us about your family

I have two daughters. One works for Chase and my other daughter is working on her Ph.D. My wife is an artist and we will be married 48 years in November.

How do you like to spend your time away from your volunteer work?

These last few years we’ve been enjoying traveling quite a bit. We’ve spent a lot of time in Mexico. We’ve done a European River Cruise and have an ocean cruise scheduled for the spring and we’re going to go up through Spain, Portugal, and Norway. 

Other than that, my wife and I like to go to parks and go to Inniswoods Metro Garden. I spend a lot of time outdoors.

We also like to play cards, board games, and things of that nature.

What do you think makes Dublin different from other communities?

There is a lot of green space and parks and the people are very friendly. I love being a Docent at the Zoo and working with people there.

Favorite restaurant/park/thing to do in Dublin

We like going to Harvest pizzeria, Inniswood Metro Gardens, and kayaking.

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