FAIRFIELD — Ginny Hughes has lived in Fairfield for just over 20 years, and in that time she has touched the lives of many people through her work on seemingly every civic organization in town.

Some residents may know Hughes in a professional capacity through her roles on companies such as Hawthorne Direct, Jefferson County Health Center, and most recently SunnyBrook Assisted Living before her retirement two years ago.

Other might know Hughes from the numerous charitable groups and boards she has served on, including her tenure as president of Fairfield Rotary, Fairfield Lions Club and the Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

Hughes said her interest in volunteering began in high school, back in her native Long Island, New York.

“Volunteering was part of our curriculum, and I volunteered at a nursing home,” Hughes recalled. “It instilled in me as a 15-year-old the importance of getting out of your comfort zone by reading to the residents or helping them write letters. That’s where I realized how fulfilling volunteering could be.”

Hughes attended college in Colorado, and lived in Boulder for about 25 years before moving to Fairfield in 2002. She was looking for a slower pace of life, and had the chance to work for a large advertising firm, Hawthorne Direct.

“To work for a company like that, you would normally need to live in New York or Los Angeles,” Hughes said.

A few years later, Hughes became the marketing director for Jefferson County Health Center, helping to promote its new hospital that opened in 2009. After working for JCHC about seven years, Hughes became the marketing director at SunnyBrook Assisted Living.

Hughes joined Rotary while living in Boulder. At that time, Rotary was a more exclusive club, and new members had to be invited to join.

“I liked everything about Rotary, such as the ability to meet people you wouldn’t otherwise meet,” Hughes said.

Hughes continued her membership in Rotary after moving to Fairfield, and in 2006 she became the club’s president. The duties of president involve leading a weekly meeting, at which 45 people attend, and steering the club toward its goals.

“The Rotary Club of Fairfield has done some great things around the world,” Hughes said. “We’ve raised money through auctions that helped with a water project in Nepal, and we’ve done things locally like helping with playgrounds.”

Hughes also served as an Assistant District Governor and District Membership Chair in Rotary.

Around the time that Hughes began working for SunnyBrook, she joined the Fairfield Lions Club. She said she was already friends with some members of the group, and it was nice to get to know some new faces as well.

Hughes is still active in Lions, and she said the club had to put some of its activities on hold during the pandemic, but it’s preparing for a fundraising this fall, a waffle breakfast on Oct. 28.

“We’ll hold it at the Fairfield Community Center, and it will fund scholarships and other needs in the community,” Hughes said.

In 2012, while Hughes was working at JCHC, she became president of the chamber board. It was not an easy year to be board president because the chamber’s executive director left, and the interim director also left. It was a difficult time of transition for the chamber, but luckily the organization persevered and a new director was found. In addition to serving as board president for a year, Hughes served on the chamber’s Christmas Committee and Ambassador Committee.

In recent years, Hughes has added another group that she’s involved in, and that’s the Fairfield Community Center, previously known as the Fairfield Senior Citizen Center. She said the organization’s goal is to give seniors a place to congregate, whether it’s through meals or programs. In the last two years, the building has undergone renovations to both its main floor and its basement.

“It was transformed cosmetically through the hard work of the volunteers on that board,” Hughes said.

Milestones Area Agency on Aging hosts lunch there every weekday, and delivers meals to seniors in their home and to Mt. Pleasant. Hughes said she wishes to encourage anyone over 60 to give it a try.

One of the first groups Hughes joined when she moved to town was the Jefferson County Trails Council.

“It was a great introduction to Fairfield,” she said. “I’m an avid user of the trails, and I was coming from a very outdoor, active community in Boulder.”

Other organizations that are important to Hughes are her PEO chapter and St. Mary Catholic Church, where she’s on the church council. She’s on its Family Life Committee, which hosts meals for special occasions like Easter, and contributes meals to the Lutheran Church’s Drive-By Suppers.