HOPE worldwide – San Diego volunteer Helen Cauley celebrated her 90th birthday this year. Many may expect Helen to be living a life of leisure, but that is not the case. In fact, she is continually offering her time and talents to serve in HOPE worldwide programs and through days of service.

Her favorite volunteer opportunities have been working for the ESTHER program for the past 6 years with her roommate and fellow “Golden Girl” Sandy Sproat by delivering home-cooked meals and catering holiday events for the Community Resource Center battered women's shelter.  Helen’s desire to serve is contagious.  “We don’t have any problems getting people to help,” Helen said.

Helen has been a member of the San Diego Church of Christ for 12 years and for the past several years has been involved in various benevolent opportunities including HOPE worldwide partnerships with Interfaith Community Services planting produce gardens in housing communities serving formerly homeless families and helping to assemble food bags for distribution by the San Diego Food Bank.

During the wildfire disaster in San Diego County that destroyed more than 1,300 homes, Helen helped gather household goods for evacuees and served food at an evacuation center.  During the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in January, Helen was one of the volunteers going door-to-door distributing fire prevention materials supplied by the American Red Cross.

Helen has a lot of history in San Diego, the community she loves to support. After her father served in World War I, her family owned a hotel there.  She remembers learning to shoot a gun at an early age to fend off potential rattlesnakes on her outhouse visits.  She also was a drum majorette for San Diego High School performing for the 1935 visit by President Franklin Roosevelt to Balboa Park.

It appears Helen is making some history of her own with her unshakeable convictions about serving those in need.  When asked what motivates her, Helen said, “A basic love for people and serving those who are less fortunate.” She also credits her mother with instilling a concern for others.  “She never knew an enemy,” Helen said.

We ask for your prayers for HOPE worldwide volunteers to continue to have hearts like Helen’s – overflowing with compassion.