Date: April 2026
When retiree David Vornholt isn’t playing pickleball, you can find him volunteering at the Food Bank’s Fresh Food Share No Cost Market in Fort Collins.
“A lot of families come through,” David said. “They’re always so nice. It’s like, yeah, this is a good thing.”
Like so many of our volunteers, David said what he gets out of the volunteer experience extends
beyond just helping his community.
“I think it’s improving my health,” David said.
Retired Army veteran, Jim Pearce, has a similar sentiment. Even while battling cancer, the movement he gets restocking shelves, handing out food and sharing a smile with the people he serves through the Loveland Fresh Food Share have been pivotal to helping him regain his strength, he said.
“It’s a fun environment,” Jim said. “It beats sitting at home doing nothing.”
Ask our other volunteers at the Food Bank and many are bound to tell you the same thing. In fact, we hear all the time that volunteers get more out of the experience than they give. But studies also show that volunteering and health have a connection, and according to the Washington Post, can even play a role in fighting the process of aging.
“Research analyzing blood markers have recently discovered that volunteering appears to slow the aging process in seniors — a felicitous finding that adds to voluminous evidence that performing community service tends to improve things like mood and heart health, particularly for those of retirement age,” the January 2026 article states.
The write-up isn’t the first to point out the connection between volunteering and health improvement.
Feeding America also outlined the ways that volunteering can boost a person’s wellbeing, especially when people volunteer together as a family, stating that:
Volunteering can have a life-long positive effect on teens and kids, leading to increased self-esteem and even helping with grade improvement in school.
Volunteering has been linked to longevity, increasing a person’s stamina, memory, and helping to maintain overall health.
Volunteering offers mental health benefits and is linked to feeling happier.
In addition, it gives people an outlet for spending more time with family and while some may think they don’t have the time to volunteer, volunteering can actually provide perspective and help someone feel they have more time.
With so many benefits both to the person and the community, volunteering is truly powerful in so many ways. To learn more about how you can get involved, visit our volunteer page.
