By Brad Devereaux
Two important ingredients needed to make a strong community are a good group of people and a place for them to congregate. The North Big Horn Senior Center in Lovell has blended both ingredients and is celebrating the yield of their recipe during volunteer appreciation week and the 30th anniversary of the senior center’s current building on Friday, April 24.
Center director Denise Andersen said volunteers are what make the center tick every day. She said the center is grateful for all the hard work put in by volunteers and talked about some of the many benefits of volunteering.
“Volunteering gives you an opportunity to change people’s lives, including your own,” she said. “It helps people feel they make a difference, that they have the power to change things for the better. When people depend on you, it can change the way you look at yourself. You can feel proud of the goals that you have helped achieve.”
The building, which was built in 1979 by Allphin and Sons of Lovell, is also necessary for the senior center to function.
“It’s such an integral part of what we do here,” she said. “It’s the place where everything comes together and goes out.”
At any given day at the center, one can witness the many volunteers in action. They can be found picking up meals to deliver for the meals on wheels program, playing music for the crowd, helping with lunch service or tying quilts. Many people have fond memories about the center over the past 30 years.
Shirley Van Lake said she is thankful for the senior center bus that her husband, Jack, rode to Cody in three times a week over six years for dialysis treatments. She said Jack was good buddies with the others in the dialysis group and the service helped raise his spirits. When Jack’s leg had to be amputated, the bus pickup continued to transport him without incident – something that would’ve been tough for Shirley to handle herself.
“We were very fortunate,” she said. “It made a big difference in our lives, just having the bus come pick him up. It would have taken a lot of my time otherwise. They were a godsend for us, and others, too.”
Jack died about three years ago, but Shirley still takes advantage of the senior center lunch, eating with the Deaver-Frannie lunch bunch for a weekly meal in Frannie delivered by the center.
Eva Wagner said she and her husband, Tom, have spent a lot of time in the past few years helping put together the center newsletter and delivering meals on wheels.
“Sometimes the people don’t see anybody else,” she said about the seniors on her delivery route.
She also spends time making quilts with other volunteers at the center. The quilts are then donated to people in need of some comfort, such as victims of burns, illnesses or accidents.
Volunteering can provide a sense of responsibility because “people really depend on you,” Andersen said. “It can help you develop a new understanding of people and their special needs.”
Volunteers Elmer and Candy Bisby met and found love through the center’s meals on wheels program. Elmer had recently lost his wife of 46 years around that time and found that volunteering to deliver meals helped him stay positive and begin to enjoy life again.
Elmer delivered meals to Candy, they got to know each other and eventually began dating. They were married in December of 2007 and have been happy together since. Elmer continues to deliver meals on wheels and Candy comes along on his route sometimes.
Whether it’s a hot lunch enjoyed with friends, some kind words or a warm quilt, the senior center and its staff and volunteers provide a service that is treasured by the community. Volunteers may not get all of the recognition they deserve during day-to-day tasks of helping those around them, but their services are crucial to the seniors they work with. The impact of these volunteers can be heard in the stories of many and seen in the smiling faces of their friends at the senior center.
Andersen invites the public to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the center and also thank volunteers for their work at an open house, Friday, April 24, at 2 p.m. at the senior center.