Lonnie Hemenway

Name: Lonnie Hemenway

Age: 77

Family: Wife, Marcia; son, Lonnie; daughter, Kimberley; three grandchildren; one great-grandson.

Residence: Browns Valley.

Occupation: Retired.

How long have you lived in the Yuba-Sutter area? Off and on since 1939.

Hobbies, interests: I love bowling and mainly volunteering.

For what groups do you volunteer? Yuba County STARS — Sheriff's Team of Active Residents in Service — for a little more than five years. The volunteer coordinator goes to our church and was talking about needing people to volunteer. My wife had been telling me, "You've got to get involved with something." So I got involved — and now she says I got involved too much.

We're asked to do 16 hours a month; I do an average of 40 to 50 hours. We do such things as patrol, vehicle maintenance, taking rabid cats and animals to the lab in Auburn.

We (STARS volunteers) don't need skills. We're trained for whatever we do.

I enjoy working with Sheriff Steve Durfor. He is well-appreciative for what STARS do for the office.

My wife and I have coordinated a senior citizens group at Loma Rica Community Church meeting once a month for more than 20 years, right now the last Tuesday of each month.

The people who started it needed someone to help facilitate it. My wife helped, then I got involved.

I also take friends and neighbors to doctor appointments or whatever they need.

I used to volunteer as a bugler for Sierra View Cemetery, at services.

How do you fit volunteering into your schedule? Time's there — you've got to use it. Use your time sensibly and you have time to volunteer.

Words of advice: You see it in the paper almost every day, you see people who volunteer. Where there's a will there's a way; you just have to get off your butt and away from the TV set.

Why be a volunteer? You'll be happier. By volunteering you get satisfaction and joy, meeting new people and learning new things.

Can you see yourself not volunteering? When I die.

Quote: "I don't see a day when volunteering won't be needed."