Where I Go: Your Doctor, My Car, Our Neighborhood

What Volunteering to Drive My Aging Neighbors Taught Me About Life and Community

In the film industry, when a new movie flops, the studio often responds with layoffs, in part to cover the stiff losses. Thus, in spring 2015, after 39 years with Columbia Pictures—by then Sony Pictures—I found myself with lots of free time at my disposal.

I decided to use that time in part to volunteer; I felt too work-oriented to abide being put out to pasture. While tutoring with the adult literacy program at my local branch library, a flyer for a neighborhood group called Westchester Playa Villages, later renamed Westside …