Charlene Adams

Age: 72.

Family: Husband, five children, 13 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren.

City of residence: Loma Rica.

Occupation: Retired, had worked as a school bus driver for 25 years.

How long have you lived in the Yuba-Sutter area? In July it will be 40 years.

Hobbies, interests: I love to garden, do needlework and quilting.

For what groups do you volunteer? The Catholic Ladies Relief Society at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Marysville.

I retired six years ago and knew there were things I wanted to be involved with — this is one of the organizations.

The relief society runs a food locker from the church. When it was started in 1888, it was to help widows and orphans, but as time changed, our mission changed. It now serves the homeless and those underserved.

The food locker is open two days a week and serves 300 to 400 people every month.

I joined the relief society because I felt it served a real need in our community. I recently attended a church deanery with people from other groups at the church including the Young Ladies Institute and Catholic Daughters of the Americas — it is inspiring when you see all these groups get together and see all the work being done.

It's good to see all the work being done in Yuba and Sutter counties by small organizations.

Over the years, I've served as a den mother for scouting, was a 4-H leader, coached Little League and volunteered at schools.

It seemed once I had my children, that opened my doors to organizations and things that needed help. As my children's interests changed, I became more involved.

How do you fit it into your schedule? My husband is very supportive of what I do. When I have to go off to meetings or run the food locker or whatever it is, he steps in and takes care of things at home and comes to help when needed.

Words of advice: Everybody has a talent and ability. Whatever it is, there are many places to use those talents. There are many wonderful organizations that need people.

Why be a volunteer? By being involved with other people, feeling like you're contributing to your community and society, you feel you can make a change. We're never going to have utopia. There's always going to be a need for hands willing to work and people willing to give their time.

Quote: "When you see the work that's being done, you realize there's a lot of people here trying to help people get through the hard times."