Volunteer Spotlight! Meet Dallin Morris.

 Dallin has come almost every Saturday of the past two soccer seasons to referee the games for the kids!

Dallin grew up in the Wild Wild West- otherwise known as Elko, Nevada. Elko is known for three things: (1) gold mining, (2) cattle ranching, and (3) the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Dallin was fortunate to grow up with all three; he even won an award at the Poetry Gathering in elementary school.

As a child, Dallin loved to roam the ranch with his younger brother and sister, feeding, brushing, and riding horses. As if ranch life was not exciting enough, Dallin’s dad and grandpa were in the gold mining business. When he was 18, Dallin traveled with them to Brazil, where they flew tiny airplanes over tall trees and visited villages in the Amazon. During this trip Dallin received a call from his mom, informing him that he had been called to serve an LDS mission in Brazil the following year.

As one of our valued South Franklin soccer referees, Dallin has a heart for both service and sports. Dallin was involved with soccer, basketball, and track in high school. His parents supported all of his activities and encouraged him to be involved in his community. Dallin says it was his dad who “used to drag me out to volunteer,” but “once I grew up I realized how much fun it actually was.” That is why in college Dallin decided to commit his weekends to service.  “I had some free time on weekends and I was looking online for a place to volunteer,” he says. That is when he found South Franklin Community Center. He has now been volunteering here for almost 2 years! 

Dallin tearing it up on the soccer field!

Dallin looks forward to the fall because he gets to referee. “Most people my age sleep in on Saturday mornings,” he says, “But I’m up early and by the time I get home I am ready to do homework and relax.” Dallin says he enjoys volunteering with the kids at South Franklin Community Center because they influence him for good and make him laugh.  He believes the soccer league and sports in general are beneficial for kids because “they learn how to respect their coach while working together toward the same goal.” He continues, “The more you’re a team player and respect your coach or boss or whoever it may be, the better off you will be in the future.”

Dallin gives some guidance to the 5-8 year old players in his first year with us. 

This past Saturday, Dallin helped us close out another successful soccer season!

It is hard to find a better role model than Dallin, who studies Public Relations at BYU. Before BYU, Dallin served a 2-year LDS mission in Maceio, Brazil. Living in the third most violent city in the world meant Dallin witnessed events that most of us in the U.S. will hopefully never encounter. The unreliability of resources also made it difficult to make a missionary stipend last; one time Dallin went five days without running water and another time he ate nothing but bread rolls for a week. Although the challenge of learning a new language in a completely new culture was difficult, Dallin persevered and came away from his experience fluent in Portuguese. He also developed great relationships with people he met in Brazil. “They are incredibly nice and generous. They would split their last roll with you if you asked them to.”

Other things that Dallin enjoys are spending time with his cousins (he has 50 of them!), riding his bike everywhere, playing sports, and baking. Dallin says, “The best thing I have ever baked is homemade Twinkies. They were so complicated to make but so delicious. Even my sister complimented me on those.” His baking must be better than he lets on; because he shared that he has catered many bridal showers and other family events. His dream job utilizing his education in PR is to open his own personal consulting and finance firm, where he would help people who were struggling to get out of debt. Another dream job is to retire and just bake. Nothing goes better with a freshly baked muffin than a good book, and Dallin has a passion for reading. Thankfully, Dallin created a list of his favorite books for us!

Dallin says, “Pretty much everything you need to know about life is in this list of books.”

Feel free to start reading this list of books with us!

Getting to know Dallin has been a pleasure for all the staff, volunteers, and youth at the South Franklin Community Center. We hope Dallin achieves all of his dreams and look forward to hearing about all of his achievements.

Dallin’s Random Fantastic Book List: 

Stories: (favorite genre)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Self-help: (second favorite genre)

Leadership and Self-Deception by the Arbinger Institute
The Servant by James Hunter
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl 
Anything on the blog:"Mr. Money Mustache"