Philip Trytko, of Niles, has been a volunteer at the Niles Salvation Army for about five years.

 

What do you do as a volunteer?

I help prepare lunch on Wednesdays.

Why did you become a volunteer at the Niles Salvation Army?

One Friday a month the church that I belong to, [Holy Trinity Lutheran], does a lunch and I came in with them a couple of times to help serve. A director [with the Niles Salvation Army] gave me a call and asked if I would not mind coming in to volunteer on Wednesdays. I said, ‘yeah, sure why not.’ Here I am.

What do you enjoy about the volunteer work that you do?

I get to meet these people and interact with them and laugh and joke. I guess the fact that I am helping to provide a service to folks in the community.

What is your favorite part about

volunteering?

The people. On the whole, it is a pretty good group of people.

What do you feel the Niles Salvation Army does for the community?

I think it fills a need for people who may not be as fortunate as others. They provide some services that cannot be gotten anywhere else. You can say that it fills a physical and spiritual need.

Why would you encourage others to

volunteer?

I think it is a great experience. You meet people that you would not necessarily meet on an ordinary basis. There are stories that make you stop and think. A lot of folks don’t realize that there are needy people in Niles and Berrien County and this is one place where those people can more or less get what they need to get by for a week or a month.