Volunteering has been a part of Irene Yager's life for as long as she can remember.

"My grandfather helped rescue people escaping the pogroms in Poland and he was a role model for me," she told me recently in her office at the Jewish Community Center on the Upper West Side. "My dad picked up stray people and brought them home for dinner, and my mother always volunteered for good causes-so for me it was always natural to give back in this way."

Irene tutored reading in high school and college and for years during her daughter's adolescence helped parents with out-of-control teens in an organization called Tough Love. "My daughter went through a very difficult time," she revealed, "and when I volunteered with Tough Love, I realized that I wasn't alone with the problem. Volunteering got me away from judgment and embarrassment and I learned useful ways to deal with my challenges."

For decades Irene had been in corporate communications and consulting, but was very ready for a change. It was volunteering as a sous chef at JCC cooking classes that landed Irene her current job as the Assistant Director of Culinary Education there. "I'd always had a passion for cooking and took classes around the city and whenever I traveled, so it was a natural for me to volunteer here at the JCC," Irene said, smiling enthusiastically. "Then, when the former assistant director got pregnant and decided to leave, I told the boss that I'd like to take the job, so here I am. I love my office 'daughters,'" she said, looking around the cubicles. "This is a great community!"

Irene is also the Chair of the NYWCA Charitable Giving Committee and part of our volunteer team at Ronald McDonald House. "Going there to bake cookies with the sick children and their courageous parents breaks your heart in a million pieces," she said softly, "but we have such a good time and I'm left feeling so thankful for what I have. What I see there puts everything else in perspective, so when someone bumps into me with their cart at Fairway, I just easily shrug it off."

"There's nothing like seeing the smile on people's faces to make me happy," she continued. "Giving back is good for my soul. It makes me a better person and keeps reminding me about what's important in life. I love knowing that I've made a difference and I especially love the special kind of connection created when we cook and eat with others."

What is Irene's advice to anyone new to volunteering? "Look inside and pick something that you feel passionate about, that you know something about, and can commit to."

And how does she find time to volunteer with a full-time job and grandchildren? "It's a priority for me, so I make the time. My life would be out-of-balance without it."

NYWCA member Irene Yager is the Assistant Director of Culinary Education at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) on Manhattan's upper west side.

NYWCA member Lorna Sass also serves on the Charitable Giving Committee. She is a cookbook author and a Transformational Life Coach who supports women making career transitions and writers making their dreams come true.

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