(Editor’s note: This story was written to help highlight National Volunteer Week April 20-26. This year’s celebratory theme is “Celebrating Service.”)
by Dennis Dalman
At the age of 75, Denis Hines of Collegeville decided he needed a break from the many decades of his career as an attorney so he decided to do volunteer work, and that is exactly what he did and what he is still doing – happily so.
For a couple years, Hines did hands-on work helping build or refurbish homes for Habitat for Humanity and also helped in the workshop at St. John’s University. And for many years he did and still does help out as a volunteer part-time in the used-book shop of the Great River Regional Library in St. Cloud.
“When I was 75, I was looking for something to do,” Hines said during a Newsleaders interview. “The wife of a colleague worked with the ‘Friends of the Library’ group. So I decided to join that too.”
At the library book shop, Hines socializes with customers, helps them find what they’re looking for and enjoys just being in a bookish environment. Hines, after all, has had a passionate life-long reading habit.
“My mother always wanted me to be a librarian,” he said with a chuckle. “She loved books too.”
Hines said he volunteers because he likes to “give back to others” and volunteering, he added, is a good way to help people, to make connections among them and to meet such a wide variety of people he would otherwise never have been able to get to know.
“Volunteering makes my life better,” Hines said.
Many years ago, Hines was an attorney serving in the U.S. Army and then did legal work for the U.S. Trade Commission. After that he set up private attorney practice in St. Cloud and served as a public defender for 25 years.
Collegeville
Hines was raised in Collegeville in the house built in 1941 by his father, Emerson, and with the help of monks. The house has an Irish “nickname” – Kilfenora.
Emerson Hines taught sociology and ethics at St. John’s University and also served as an assistant to the late U.S. Sen. Eugene McCarthy. The two of them were good friends when they were university students at SJU.
Denis and wife Susanna have lived in that house for many years.
Susanna was a florist at St. Cloud Floral for years and also at the St. John’s University greenhouse for the past 10 years. The couple has two children – Johanna, a bookseller in Louisville, Ken.; and Paul, who does computer work in Albany, Calif., which is near San Francisco.
Besides his volunteering and his love of reading, Hines also has another hobby of sorts – helping wife Susanna do the gardening.
Why not volunteer?
Hines highly recommends people – and not just retired people – check into options for volunteering because he knows first-hand how rewarding it is.
If over the age of 55, a good place to start is AmeriCorps RSVP whose main office is located at Whitney Senior Center, 1527 Northway Drive in St. Cloud. Its phone number is 320-255-7295.
RSVP teams up with more than 1,000 central Minnesota neighbors who fill their time with activities they enjoy while making life better for others. Its volunteers make new friends, stay active and become part of something special – healthy human connections and strengthened bonds with others.
RSVP partners with local human-service organizations to enhance their impact through volunteer support while making possible a volunteer experience tailored to the interests and skills of each volunteer. In addition, RSVP offers an extensive support system that includes supplemental volunteer insurance and an optional transportation reimbursement.
There are still hundreds of volunteer opportunities throughout RSVP’s service area – the counties of Stearns, Benton, Sherburne and Wright.
Under 55?
For those who are younger than 55, it’s recommended they first consider how they would like to volunteer. Then they could contact various organizations, service clubs, hospitals or other places to find out if they have volunteer options to match the interests or skills of the prospective volunteer.
Another good idea is to check out the “National Volunteer Week” website for ideas.
Six RSVP volunteers take turns reading a storybook to school children.
