For a Good Cause -- Max Wood
* Story by Deepa Bharath
Max Wood says she believes she’ll be a volunteer “forever.”
She has been a part of Share Our Selves for about 10 years now. And
this month, she will chair an event called Wild and Crazy Taco Night,
which will be Costa Mesa charity’s ninth annual open house.
Wood, who recently moved to Huntington Beach, had lived in Newport
Beach for 14 years and has also volunteered her time to the Surfrider
Foundation, participating in its beach cleanups.
Wood said she started volunteering several years ago when she moved to
the area from Portland.
“Moving to this area from Oregon was kind of a culture shock to me,”
she said. “I wanted to reach out to people at a grass-roots level, meet
new people and get a good sense of giving back to society.”
Working with Share Our Selves has touched Wood’s life in many ways,
she said.
“Fortunately, or unfortunately, the organization serves so many
people,” she said. “Two years ago, at Thanksgiving, we gave away
groceries to 750 families. We started with chickens, went to turkey, then
cans of ham and toward the end, some families only got rice and beans.”
Over the 10 years she has volunteered with the charity, Woods says she
has seen the organization grow.
“They’ve become much more sophisticated in their operations,” she
said. Thanks to the generosity of the community and their fund-raisers,
the group even has refrigerated vans to transport groceries, Wood said.
The satisfaction she personally derives from volunteer work is
twofold, she said.
“I had poor beginnings myself,” she said. “So first of all, it is a
good feeling to know that you’re able to give back to society. Secondly,
I’ve met the most wonderful people I’m honored even to know.”
Wood works as a consultant who sets up meeting sites at hotels for
corporations. But despite her busy schedule and travel plans, she
squeezes in at least a few hours of volunteer work each week.
“It’s really important,” she says. “As one of my friends in SOS says,
‘as volunteers, we want to show people how we can live simply so other
people can simply live.”’
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