Volunteer Spotlight: Carol McCartney

I volunteer for the Meals on Wheels program, filling and sealing the food trays for about 250 meals during each 2-hour shift.

I have long been impressed with the good that is done at Goodman Community Center. I have enjoyed watching GCC's programs grow and its impact on my community expand.

My husband and I have lived in the neighborhood for 48 years. He has been retired for 20 years and I retired in 2020. We raised three wonderful kids here and we are now blessed with five grandkids — two of them in town so we can see them often, and pinch hit and spoil them as needed.

When I retired during the COVID lockdown, I hoped to become a part of the activities at GCC as soon as it seemed safe to join. I had enjoyed a variety of events before the pandemic, from yoga classes, Family Fun Nights and an arts and crafts sale to a memorial service for a neighbor. Now, my husband and I use the fitness center in the winter, and I take tai chi classes.

After the lockdown I started volunteering as a server at Senior Lunch but had to quit when COVID spiked again. Eventually, I found my way to Meals on Wheels. The MOW staff and other volunteers are great to work with and the work is enjoyably fast-paced to meet the schedules of those who deliver the meals. As I fill a food tray it is easy to imagine the broader community that is being helped by the work at Goodman, so I feel like my behind-the-scenes work is really worthwhile.