SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Carving out time to volunteer is something of a habit for Lee Cooper of Kittery, Maine. Throughout his adult life, the 74-year-old has supported several conservation groups as well as Habitat for Humanity. But when he recently tried a new volunteer gig, he discovered his niche and a deeper connection to his community. Patty Wight of Maine Public Radio has the latest story in our series on volunteerism in America, Here to Help.
PATTY WIGHT, BYLINE: Lee Cooper's favorite thing to do is shop, at least while he's volunteering at Portland-based Maine Needs. After he arrives for his shift, he picks up an order slip from the front desk and grabs a bag off a nearby shelf.
(SOUNDBITE OF PAPER BAG RUSTLING)
LEE COOPER: We'll go fill this up. I usually start with shoes because they go on the bottom, and they're heavy.
WIGHT: Cooper is hand-picking shoes and other items for a 62-year-old man who's found housing after two years of homelessness. Maine Needs collects donations of clothes, bedding, toiletries, even cleaning supplies and fills specific requests that social workers and other community providers make for clients.
COOPER: Think of it as a - like, a food bank with no food. I mean, we do everything else but food.
WIGHT: Maine Needs started as a Facebook group out of a garage in 2019. Now it's a nonprofit in a 16,000 square-foot facility fueled by more than 3,000 volunteers. In one room, seemingly endless racks of clothing lead to a wall stacked floor to ceiling with boxes of boots donated by L.L.Bean. Cooper picks out a pair.
(SOUNDBITE OF PAPER RUSTLING)
COOPER: Oh, those look like they'll qualify for winter boots.
WIGHT: As he works his way down the list, the bag fills up with underwear, socks, pants and shirts.
COOPER: And then he also wants some cleaning things, so I'll have to go in the other room for that.
WIGHT: Cooper doesn't meet the people he's shopping for, but he still feels a connection. He recalls an especially memorable order for a woman who was moving into a sober house after being incarcerated.
COOPER: I know what it's like in early sobriety. I've been sober for 33 years. I did the best packing job I could for her. I tried to pick the prettiest, the newest, I mean - and then I gave her a minute-for-mom kit, which is a kit we do for moms as a rule, which has fancy soap and sometimes a hairbrush or other things that people wouldn't normally ask for. And then I gave her a deck of cards. And I wrote her a note that just said, good luck in your sobriety. I hope she's doing well. That's all I can say 'cause I'll never know.
WIGHT: Cooper started out donating money to Maine Needs. But last November, he says he wanted to do something more tangible. He now volunteers at least twice a week and often brings in donations he's collected. Jo Albanese, who oversees volunteers at Maine Needs, says Cooper jumps in to help wherever needed.
JO ALBANESE: He's done everything from filling orders to painting walls multiple times (laughter), you know, like, very easygoing soul and just - yeah, lovely to be around.
WIGHT: But Cooper says he didn't always see himself that way.
COOPER: I was not always a kind person. I mean, I thought I was kind, but I was self-serving.
WIGHT: Volunteering at Maine Needs, he sees how so many people need so much and that, he says, helps bring him back to the ground. For NPR News, I'm Patty Wight in Portland, Maine.
DETROW: And we want to hear from you. To tell us your own story about how being a volunteer has shaped your life or to nominate someone you think we should profile, go to npr.org and search Here to Help. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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