ABC 7 Eyewitness News: Cedars-Sinai Volunteer Turns 100
ABC 7 Eyewitness News recently attended the birthday celebration for Charles Selarz, a Cedars-Sinai volunteer who turned 100 years old this month.
Selarz is a Holocaust survivor who cheated death many times, enduring brutality at three concentration camps during World War II. Selarz was the only member of his family to survive the war, but today he is surrounded by loving relatives.
As Selarz told ABC 7, "I have two good children. They understand me. The grandchildren are perfect, perfect. This keeps me alive.” In addition to his two children, Selarz also has six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Selarz started volunteering at Cedars-Sinai after his wife passed away 23-years-ago. He lives near the hospital and volunteers once a week, doing administrative tasks. He is known among the volunteers for his strong work ethic and his passion to get the job done. At his birthday celebration, Casey McGuire, director of Volunteer Services said called Selarz “a wonder.”
“He’s all about productivity,” McGuire told ABC 7. “He wants to make sure when he gets here that there’s work on the table in front of him for him to start immediately and if there isn’t, somebody’s going to hear about it.”
When asked why he volunteers, Selarz told ABC 7, “because I like to help.”
At his birthday celebration, Cedars-Sinai’s Senior Rabbi Jason Weiner blessed Selarz and led a prayer wishing Selarz many more years of good health.
His fellow volunteers sang Happy Birthday and then he cut into a large birthday cake. When asked by his son how it feels to be 100, Selarz said, “I feel like a youngster.”
Click here to watch the complete ABC 7 story.