Helene Demain and her husband, Bob, volunteer at the Niles Salvation Army, located at 424 N. 15th St., Niles. They live in South Bend, Indiana. Those interested in volunteering with the Salvation Army can call (269) 684-7720.

 

How did you get involved with the Niles Salvation Army?

We have two daughters that live in Niles and one of our daughters took it upon herself to show us around, knowing our hearts, as she does, that we wanted to volunteer someplace. We’ve always had a heart for the Salvation Army. Right away she took us to the Kroc Center and it was beautiful. She said, “before you decide where to volunteer, let me take you to Niles because they are in such great need.” We chose Niles because the need is so great here and we fell in love with the people. They’ve been like family.

 

What do you do at the Salvation Army?

Basically I work at the front desk, interviewing clients when they come in and checking for eligibility, but we will do whatever is needed. We are unique in that we are retired so we can be on-call and get here on a minutes notice whereas a lot of other people are restricted on time. We’ve been working Wednesday afternoons and on-call whenever they need us. This next year I expect to be working a day and a half a week. They have a wonderful group of volunteers that is so dedicated. Even many of the people who receive help from here volunteer, which really impressed us. It is like a big family, it really is.

 

What do you enjoy about volunteering at the Salvation Army?

The people. They have such a heart. Everybody works hard — it is not just a job. You have to have a real heart to do what they do.

 

Why is volunteering important?

For us, we enjoyed what we did in our working lives, but we didn’t like the “daily-ness” of it. We took an early retirement in our mid-50s because we like to travel and we had grandkids out of state. The nice thing about volunteering is that you can do what you want to do and when you want to do it. It is not like a job. We get more of a blessing out of it than we give, I’m sure, because we’ve met so many nice people here both through our church and the (Salvation) Army. Volunteering as far as we are concerned is what you do when you are no longer working.

 

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