Sharon Silverman has never worked a day in her life — for pay, that is. But the outgoing, energetic 81-year-old just can’t stop offering her time and efforts as a volunteer.

The native San Franciscan assists Jewish communal organizations and now serves on a number of committees at the Peninsula Regent in San Mateo, an independent living community for ages 60 and older where she has lived for the past 20 months.

Her late husband used to call her “a professional volunteer,” Silverman said.

“It was important to both of us for me to be involved in the Jewish community.”

Silverman grew up in the Sunset District and Lake Merced area, and attended Conservative Congregation Beth Israel. Her mother was a great role model. “She belonged to many organizations and was sisterhood president,” Silverman said.

After marrying Leonard and having children, Silverman got busy herself. The couple became members of Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco and Silverman joined the sisterhood. When she became president and got a seat on the synagogue’s board of directors, she worked her way up to board president — becoming the first woman to hold that position.

Some men thought “this is not a woman’s job,” Silverman recalled. “There were 18 to 20 people on the board, and the executive committee was all men. I sat with these men. I held my own.”

She also served on a rabbinical search committee, chaired the celebrations committee, performed staff evaluations and more. “It wasn’t difficult,” she said.

The Silvermans also joined Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame after Rabbi Daniel Feder took over as senior rabbi in 2006. Again, Silverman found her way to a seat on the board.

And she proved her mettle as first woman president of the Union for Reform Judaism, serving on URJ’s national board for 19 years. “It was great,” she said.

Silverman didn’t limit her service to synagogues. She served on the boards of the former Brotherhood Way JCC (now the campus of the Brandeis School of San Francisco) and the old Bay Area regional JCC umbrella organization, the UJCC.

“I was very fortunate that I had a husband who supported these things,” she added. “He got involved, too.”

While “every board I served on was wonderful,” Silverman said her experience as a board member of Hebrew Free Loan in San Francisco, starting in 1999, stands out. The nonprofit provides interest-free loans to Jews, and to non-Jews who meet certain criteria.

The executive committee was all men. I sat with these men. I held my own.

As a former president of the organization, from 2016 to 2018, she is a lifetime member.

“It’s been most rewarding,” Silverman said. “It’s been life-changing for people.”

She cites an example from years ago, prior to her daughter’s wedding. When the wedding planner learned that Silverman was involved with Hebrew Free Loan, “she took my hand and said, ‘Thank you. You helped me get through college.’”

More recently, the pandemic has only “upped the demand” for assistance, Silverman said. “We’re hearing a lot from students who want to get back to school, from new businesses trying to get stable. … We’ve met people who unfortunately need money to pay the rent.”

Covid-19 took its toll on Silverman, too. She moved to the Peninsula Regent in March 2020 to be closer to daughters Bonni in San Mateo and Jill in Redwood Shores, and grandson Zachary, 11. Unfortunately, she moved in just in time for the lockdown.

“My timing was lousy,” said Silverman, who knew no other residents in the condominium community.

Even so, the self-described “knitter and needlepointer” kept busy getting settled in her new home, and she didn’t let the pandemic get her down.

Once restrictions were lifted, Silverman made new friends and jumped right into her usual MO: volunteering. She serves on the garden committee (“the gardens are immaculate”), the welcoming committee and the Peninsula Regent Charitable Foundation, which awards education scholarships up to $10,000 to deserving employees and their children. Recipients “are so grateful” for the help, she said.

Terrie Cardoza, membership services coordinator at the Peninsula Regent, raves about Silverman. Noting that the octogenarian moved in at “the worst possible time imaginable,” Cardoza calls Silverman “the most positive, upbeat, grateful person I have met in a very long time.”

Between her volunteer commitments and her busy social life, Silverman has little down time these days. Which is exactly the way she wants it. “I didn’t come here to sit in my apartment all the time,” she explained.

As to what she likes most about volunteering, her answer is simple: “Helping people.”