BEAVERDAM — At an age when many people are retiring from their jobs and spending more time relaxing, Karen Ewing is doing quite the opposite. The 70-year-old spends her days volunteering and her nights at the Speedway gas station in Beaverdam, working when most people are sleeping.
A few months ago, Ewing was recognized for both her volunteer work and by her company when she received the Volunteer of the Year Award through Speedway’s C.A.R.E. program.
The awards program, which stands for Caring And Responsible Employees, honors Speedway workers who spend time serving their communities.
“It made me proud to know that someone from a little store in a little town could be recognized with a nationwide company,” Ewing said. “I felt especially honored because I was the only shift person and everyone else were managers and people up the food chain above me.”
Ewing, of Westminster, received the award based on her volunteer work through her local chapter of the Ohio Child Conservation League, an organization dedicated to serving youth in the community.
Through her local OCCL group, who call themselves “Cribs to College,” Ewing has supported the Ronald McDonald House, the Lafayette Library, a cerebral palsy clinic, the Samaritan House, and Wild Horse Ranch, a camp for children of servicemen and women.
When she wasn’t volunteering with her club, Ewing was running the Lafayette Little League Baseball spaghetti dinner, serving as den mother for Cub Scouts and an adviser for 4-H, and helping at her local church.
Of all the time she’s spent volunteering in the community, Ewing said the one thing that’s stuck out most to her was her work with the Samaritan House, which provides assistance for homeless women and their children.
She also has a personal connection to the Samaritan House through her late husband.
“My husband had went to school with the [Samaritan House] director, so he helped out there doing odds and ends when he retired,” she said. “There, you’re helping homeless mothers find jobs and educating them as far as how to manage their money, so it’s a very worthwhile project.”
Through the OCCL, Ewing has been supporting the Samaritan House and countless other organizations for 52 years. But even in her fifth decade with the club, Ewing doesn’t plan on slowing down now.
“I’m not one to sit around and do nothing, and there’s always somebody that needs a helping hand,” she said. “No matter what your age, you can always give back to somebody.”
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