Good Deeds: One task led to 30 years of volunteering

What started as helping a client organize a golf tournament for the Multiple Sclerosis Society turned into 30 years of service to the Wichita branch of the national nonprofit.

“Much to my surprise, time flies quickly,” Jeff Peier said of his decades of volunteer service. “It seems almost impossible that it has come to that, but apparently it has.”

Peier, 55, is an aviation finance attorney with Klenda Austerman. At the MS Society in Wichita, he is an administrative and volunteer guru.

“He does the nitty-gritty,” said Kari Rinker, senior community development manager with the nonprofit. “The un-fun stuff of the committee.”

Peier has held several local, state, regional and national roles in various committees in his 30 years with the organization. Rinker said Peier has been involved with the MS Society since before many of the current employees, including Rinker.

Peier has also done charity work for the Wichita Aero Club, Fort Hays State University Foundation — his alma mater —and Doc’s Friends, which is working to restore a historic B-29 Superfortress.

It’s curiosity, he said, that keeps him coming back to the MS Society.

“I was interested in and continue to be puzzled by this disease,” Peier said. “I’m the curious type I guess.

“Once I got on the ride I decided I didn’t want to get off until the end of the tunnel.”

This story was originally published June 8, 2014 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Good Deeds: One task led to 30 years of volunteering."