Ken Mais, of Edwardsburg, is a long-time volunteer of the Edwardsburg Food Pantry and long-time member of the Edwardsburg Lions Club. The food pantry serves the Edwardsburg Public School District and parts of Union and is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church at 24832 US-12 in Edwardsburg.

What do you do for the food pantry?

I register and sign people in. I work on processing the paperwork and do a lot of stocking. Every month we have a truck come in and we stock the pantry. We just gave out Thanksgiving baskets last week, packed over 250 for 250 families. We gave out over 200 I think.

I mainly go in on Wednesdays, but every once in a while if they need help I fill in. We have some snowbirds that head for Florida for the winter, so sometimes they need extra help. I’ve been doing it for 15 years. I am deacon of the Edwardsburg Presbyterian Church and the churches came together and asked for volunteers to serve. As deacon I thought I should help someone.

What do you enjoy about it?

I like helping people out anyway that I can. We serve people that are in need and there are a lot of people. We also give out vouchers for groceries or gas. We also help out some people with their utility bills.

What do you do for the Lions Club?

I’ve been a member 38 years. The last 30 years I’ve served as a zone chairman, which comprises eight other clubs in our area that I work with in our district, which now has 40 clubs. I see if they need any assistance with solving problems, projects and helping people out. I’ve been a past president twice and served as treasurer for 15 years.

Lately, we’ve been building handicapped ramps. As a matter of fact, they constructed one for me because I was in a car accident back in ’97. We also supply glasses mainly for kids. We’ve done hearing aids also.

Right now we are doing Christmas Tree sales. We are at the H&R Block on US-12 east of town. Ninety-five percent of it goes back to the community. The last two years we’ve been selling maple syrup along with the trees too.

Why is it important to volunteer?

Just to help individual people out. Like everyone says, you are not a Lion until you get heartfelt thanks for what you accomplished for helping someone else out.

Do you know a volunteer worthy of recognition? Nominate him or her by emailing Craig Haupert, community editor, at craig.haupert@leaderpub.com, or calling (269) 687-7720.