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According to volunteer Lynn Cline, memorizing facts and absorbing information like we do as children and students becomes more difficult as people age, but the benefit of experience is that we gain the wisdom to see how it all connects – how our choices and actions make a difference in the world.

Lynn has acquired a lot of knowledge after his more than 40-year career teaching library information science and ordering library materials for Missouri State University. It’s that combination of knowledge, experience and retirement that has led him to realize how wonderful aging is and how “it fits with volunteering just perfectly.”

In his retirement, Lynn feels grateful for all of thing good things he’s been given and makes a point to give back to his community in turn, primarily through volunteering. “Volunteers matter because they’re the lifeblood of the community,” He shared. “Volunteering is voluntary, but if nobody does those activities, then they don’t get done. It really holds the community together.”

It’s true. At Ozarks Food Harvest, just one volunteer provides over 300 meals in an average three-hour session. The Food Bank simply could not serve 70,000 people each month without the help of volunteers. It’s part of why Lynn chooses to give back at The Food Bank. After his time in Give 5, a local civic match-making program that connects retirees with volunteer opportunities to fit their skills and passions, he felt drawn to causes that address basic human needs like food and shelter. Ozarks Food Harvest was a perfect fit.

Lynn also recognizes the benefits of volunteering for himself. Gardening and sorting food with The Food Bank twice a week keeps him moving, which is critical to maintaining health throughout a person’s life. It also gives him an opportunity to meet new people and make connections – and he has made plenty of meaningful connections, now even sharing inside jokes with friends he’s made at the garden.

Along with exercise and socializing, perhaps the most energizing part of volunteering for Lynn is the sense of fulfillment he feels after helping his neighbors. From his nearly 74 years of life experience, Lynn sees just how important it is to give back to the community and that each of us can play a part. He explained, “Ninety-nine percent of us do small things in the world. Cumulatively, they make a huge difference. We’re not all Brad Pitt or the President or Oprah. We can’t all be these larger-than-life figures, but the important thing is that everybody is a spark of life. We all have the ability to contribute in some way.”

Thank you, Lynn, for choosing to make your contribution at Ozarks Food Harvest. And thank you to all of the volunteers who make it possible to Transform Hunger into Hope in the Ozarks.