Ray Hanson is a volunteer. I thought he was an employee, possibly even the manager or owner, of this historic hardware store in Huntsville, Alabama. Harrison Brothers opened their hardware store on the town square in 1879. It is the oldest, continuously operating hardware store in the state. Now owned by the Historic Huntsville Foundation, it purchased the store from the family in 1983. It is run entirely by volunteers.

How do you want to use your spare time? There is virtually no limit to the possibilities of being a volunteer: at museums, hospitals, camps for kids, park naturalist, job mentor, homework helper, on and on. Skills that were honed by years of work are still valuable as a volunteer; new skills can be learned and practiced in an entirely different environment. It's something I've been thinking about. I've got time and talent that could be used somewhere, somehow.