Building a New Purpose: Core Volunteer Mark D’Agostino’s Habitat Omaha Journey

“Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.” — Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers) 

Habitat Omaha Core volunteer Mark D’Agostino has taken that quote from Mister Rogers to heart. He is now living the beginning with Habitat Omaha following the end of a 38-year career as an anesthesiologist with Methodist (Health System) in Omaha. 

“I volunteered here periodically when the Metro Omaha Medical Society would say, ‘Hey, we’re doing a build; they’re letting us build.’ Then I got to know these people (at Habitat Omaha). I thought that this was pretty good and I could do what they wanted. If they want me to move wood, I’ll move wood. I don’t care. I got skills to move wood, so I started out that way and now it’s a relationship. It’s a really, good relationship. “ 

Mark said that was around four years ago, when Diego (Quinteros, Residential Construction Carpenter III) was brand new to Habitat Omaha.  

“He was a young guy, and they wouldn’t let him do anything,” Mark said smiling. “Then I got here and we were talking and I said to him, 

Mark: Hey, how many kids do you have? 

Diego: What are you talking about? 

Mark: I don’t know, 25. 

Mark: I’m making conversation. 

Diego: Well, how old do you think I am? 

Diego: Whatever, I’m 19. 

Mark: How would I know that? You wear a hard hat, you bark orders. It’s more or less a compliment. It’s a compliment. 

“So that was funny. Then over the years, I got to know him, and when I came back, he’s really doing all of this as a foreman,” Mark said. 

Diego is grateful to have people like Mark volunteer on his jobsite. 

“Mark is an incredible person with an incredible character. He loves to come out, and we love to have him out here. He’s just so happy to help,” Diego said. “We love that we make him happy and that he loves to work with us.” 

Mark grew up in a plumbing company owned by his dad in Kansas City. It was a small company, and all his brothers worked in it, including Mark, who worked in it until college. 

“My brothers went into engineering; I tried that, at least in school at KU, and I thought, I’m not getting a kick out of this. They were excited. My sister was in nursing at Creighton, and they said go visit your sister (in Nebraska) and so I did.” 

Mark ended up graduating from Creighton with a Chemistry major. He started out in neurosurgery, but when his first child was born, he thought, ‘I’ll never see this kid. I won’t be there.’ That’s when he made the switch to anesthesia, never looked back, and nearly 40 years later, it was time to retire. 

What started as an occasional volunteer opportunity has become a meaningful retirement purpose for Mark D’Agostino, who now spends one to two days each week helping Habitat Omaha build affordable housing.

“My age was right and the clock was ticking on time with grandkids, Mark said. “So I’m in (to Habitat Omaha). This I can do. They said, ‘Just come down. You don’t need an invitation anymore.’ Yeah, it’s really good.” 

Mark retired 2 1/2 years ago and within the last month they had a retirement meeting at the Medical Society. They wanted retirees to come share their current experiences on a panel. 

“Everybody talked about their retirement stories, some of them asked, ‘What do you do? For me, Habitat was very, very inviting. I do all kinds of things. It’s not a job. It’s not. I don’t have the pressure of a job. But I said, ‘You would love the people part because my job is a people job.’  

Mark comes to a Habitat Omaha build site one to two times a week and he doesn’t take his volunteer spot lightly. He understands the impact volunteers have on the work Habitat Omaha does. 

“If I commit to this, I do this, because they really depend on it and they have to depend on that you are going to show up,” he said. “When they’re framing, we put up walls, we put up the trusses that go on top…It’s pretty fun. It was above my pay grade for a while, now it’s my pay grade. They have to train you and once you get it, they’re good.” If you are a John Wayne type (try to do stuff in your own way), they aren’t going to like it.” 

Being a Core volunteer means a lot to him.  

“That means that we trust you,” he said. “You may not do everything because you don’t know how to do it, but you can do a lot of things. So if they tell me to trim out this closet, I can do that!” 

Mark has realized perfection is not a requirement for volunteering. He didn’t have to have experience when starting, just a willingness to learn. 

“Guys are like, ‘You must be super handy?’ No! I have an eraser on my pencil, so it doesn’t have to be perfect. I’ll redo what isn’t right, make the right cut, and that’s accepted here.” 

His favorite part with Habitat Omaha is doing something that the staff knows is good and working to help all of these people to help do their jobs. 

“It’s pretty fun,” he said.

After a 38-year career in medicine, Core Volunteer Mark D’Agostino has found a rewarding second act with Habitat Omaha, dedicating his time, talents and enthusiasm to helping build affordable homes and stronger communities across Omaha.

“That’s me. I know my daughters were probably thinking, what’s he going to do? What is dad going to do in retirement?” 

His daughter, Katie, has done some work for her employer (Lori Stohs Consulting) with the administration of Habitat Omaha. She told him to lean into it if it’s his bag, and it is! 

Watch this video: Mark’s Volunteer Story

Habitat Omaha’s work would not be possible without the volunteers that show up and dedicate their time to building affordable housing in Omaha. To find out available volunteer opportunities and sign-up visit habitatomaha.org/volunteer.