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Portraits Magazine
Volunteering
By April Lesher
There are a LOT of things at the Rio Vista Center I don't like doing. There are things I don't even want to think about doing, like when the toilet backs up or a dead mouse needs to be removed from the trap.
But I have found my favorite thing to do: making food boxes. There is something soothing and rhythmic about placing the exact same amount of canned food into each box, carrying it over to the shelf and seeing one box turn into 20. I love it. I turn on music and plop, plop, plop the canned beans, peanut butter, and peaches into the box.
It is clean work. I do not have to touch something disgusting (unless a can is broken, in which case I try to pretend I don't see it until another volunteer does and cleans it up). We all have our limitations and mine is germs.
One day I saw Stan. Stan is a faithful volunteer who uses a walker because his back has curved into the most uncomfortable and hunched position. Even still, Stan volunteers. He spreads joy into the lives of others by greeting them as they enter the Rio Vista Center and asking if they have any prayer requests.
Propping himself up against the door so that he can shake hands with those who pass by probably isn't easy for Stan, but he does it. He is a retired veteran who once pushed his walker in the Arizona heat for two-and-a-half hours in order to volunteer at the center. When asked why he walked all that way in poor health, he answered, "I want to give back."
When I put on a double layer of plastic gloves to empty the trash into the vile-smelling dumpster, I think of Stan and smile. Sometimes our limits have to be stretched a bit to get the job done. There is an encouragement in knowing that someone else is making a far greater sacrifice and if that person can go beyond his comfort zone, I can go beyond mine.
Matthew 20: 26
"Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."