Glenda Cushing King sits at the receptionist desk at the HELP of Ojai building on Montgomery Street. The phone rings and King smiles, saying, "This might happen a lot," as she answers the call as the Front Desk volunteer.
"HELP of Ojai, this is Glenda." King connects the person on the line to the right service and sets the phone back on the receiver.
King worked for nine years as transportation coordinator and director at HELP of Ojai before retiring and then returned as a volunteer.
"It's just important in what it does and how it reaches so many people and how it impacts their lives," she said of HELP of Ojai.
"I just think it's a really, really healthy thing to do. It's just grat-ifying. It's a win-win. One, because it makes me feel good. Two, because I'm doing something that's going to help someone else. Hopefully, I'm doing something that will help someone else."
Last year, HELP of Ojai gave 4,901 rides to seniors, served 26,718 meals, and delivered 487 food boxes. "It is very important in terms of what it has done for the low-income population, the homeless population, the senior population" said King.
During the height of the pandemic, King delivered meals to seniors multiple times per week.
"I gravitate toward (helping) seniors, said King. "I think about the fact that I'm in my senior years and they're piling on. So, I look around at how other people are aging, how they are accepting it or not accepting it and how they're dealing with it. And just try to take that all in and have that be a part of my education of how I'm going to be when I grow up."
King is also a member and former chapter president of the local chapter of Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.), which promotes educational opportunities for women and girls.
She serves as the Clerk of Session and assists with child care at Ojai Presbyterian Church, volunteers at Ojai Valley Community Hospital Continuing Care Center, and helps with numerous community events, including Rotary Wine Festival and Ojai Valley Hospital Foundation October Classic.
Jayn Walter, now co-executive director of HELP of Ojai, met King in 2017 when she was an intern at the HELP of Ojai Community Assistance Program. She and King have worked together for the past six years. Walter nominated King for the Living Treasure, writing that it is Glenda's "commitment to the aging population of Ojai that makes her stand out as a leader. She is a compassionate and caring community member who has continued to serve those in need, years after her retirement."