Volunteer of the Month – June 2023 – Delbert Schafer & Karen Schafer

Delbert Schafer

Delbert Schafer has served DPSC as the Chair of the Communications Team for the last election cycle.  He was instrumental in organizing our website, email lists, digital ads, texting campaigns, post card projects, and all other facets of our party’s communications.  During COVID, Delbert created and maintained our Zoom schedule in order for us to all stay connected.  It was a herculean undertaking, and Delbert approached it with grace and logic!  Delbert has recently retired as the Communications Char, and we are grateful that he will continue to oversee the website and emails.

Born an Okie. Attended Northwestern, Southwestern and the Univ. of Okla. He spent 25 years working for weekly business newspapers in Kansas City, Mo., San Francisco, San Jose, CA, and in Sydney, Australia, and the Tulsa World daily newspaper, Tulsa OK.. Prior to that he spent 13 years as a history teacher at Missouri Southern State University, Joplin, MO.  He aIso assisted the Albuquerque Council for International Visitors in assuring that emerging international leaders when they visit New Mexico have productive professional exchanges with their industry counterparts.

Karen Schafer

Karen Schafer is the former State Chair of the Democratic Party of Missouri.  Her experiences and knowledge of politics made her a fabulous fundraising chair.  Prior to serving as the fundraising Chair for DPSC, she was the Treasurer for the Sandoval County Federation of Democratic Women.  Karen organized out last major “Keep Sandoval Blue” fundraising event in 2021.  Her efforts helped DPSC increase its outreach to democrats throughout our county.  She created DPSC’s Sustaining Program that has enable us to assist candidates, save for the ongoing lawsuit, and meet our other financial obligations.

One of her many political passions is uniting local Democrats with the Unitarian Universalist Westside Congregation to participate in a Feed Rio Rancho Kids program that distributes weekend snack packets to local elementary and middle school children. Last, but not least, she serves as the Chair of Precinct 99 in the Corrales Heights neighborhood of southwest Rio Rancho.

Karen has a BS degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State University.  From 1981-1986 she was a name partner of the Simmons-Schafer political consultancy in Kansas City, Mo.  In 1989, she moved into business newspaper publishing, serving as the Publisher of the San Francisco Business Times and from 1994-1998 as the Publisher of Business Sydney in Sydney, NSW, Australia. In 1999 she moved into the nonprofit world and from 1999-2007 worked as the President and CEO of Tulsa Global Alliance, which arranged trips from international visitors to foster global understanding.

Delbert and Karen have a cabin in Pagosa Springs, CO where they enjoy getting away from it all.  DPSC owes both Karen and Delbert Schafer a debt of gratitude.