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At 101, Florida volunteer is still going strong.
Edward Kydd has traveled 13,332 miles in 1,742 hours of service for Meals on Wheels.
The Rockledge man drives two routes every Monday, accompanied by his traveling companion: his 73-year-old daughter, Janet von Berg.
Kydd is 101, by the way.
And he might just be the poster child – OK, poster centenarian – for the mantra “engage at every age,” the 2018 theme of Older Americans Month.
For many Brevard County, Florida, seniors, the opportunity to engage comes daily through volunteering – and age is no barrier to their efforts.
“I think the reason I’m going to be 102 in July is because I’ve stayed active,” Kydd said.
There’s a place for any volunteer, said David Rosenbaum of Redeemer Lutheran Church. He’s chairman of Brevard Voluntary Organizations Active In Disaster.
“If they have the strength and willingness to serve, it doesn’t matter what age they are – there’s always a place they can make a positive difference,” Rosenbaum said. “In the back office, doing paperwork. Encouraging. Offering emotional support. Sharing their experiences. Offering love that’s sorely missing in our society and much more.”
Since January 2018, Meals on Wheels volunteers have delivered 79,403 meals to 1,014 homebound seniors in Brevard County, Wells said.
As local nonprofit organizations are asked to do more and more for the community, “we all stretch our capacity through volunteers,” said Rob Rains, president of United Way of Brevard.
“I think of Helen Keller and her famous quote: ‘Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much,’ ” he said.
Every Monday, Kydd heads to Brevard Community Kitchen in Cocoa to load his car with coolers.
Then he hits the road, delivering meals to homebound seniors in the Rockledge area with the help of his daughter.
“I’ve met people, done things I’ve liked to do, met people I enjoy,” he said.
For Kydd, there’s a story and, more importantly, a person behind every meal and mile.
“You meet some amazing people,” Kydd said. “Janet has taken over a lot of the talking, but there are so many stories, so many fascinating jobs these people have held ... whatever their reason is for needing the meal, we’re there for them.”