Throughout my life, I've always felt an urge to help others.  My parents both volunteered for a variety of charitable causes, and I guess that influenced me.  Many years ago, after suddenly losing my father to a stroke in 1972, I began volunteering as an EMT.  That led to years of volunteer work in fire and EMS, in addition to supporting the churches we attended.

As I now approach retirement, I'm finding a renewed sense of purpose in using my photography to help our community.  I've covered a few charity events over the past two years and volunteer with our church's media team.  I love the way I get to serve others while making new friends and having fun supporting a good cause.  Most recently, I had the privilege of supporting ALS United Mid-Atlantic with pictures of their Walk to End ALS in Hershey, PA

In a world where volunteerism has been on the decline, I would encourage all of us to find a way to help others, even in a small sense.  It helps us feel needed and grateful for the opportunity to serve, and helps make someone else's day just a little brighter.  We all have talents and abilities we can put to use helping others.  I would challenge each of us to find a way to use ours.