Kay Flood

In her book “Becoming Bread,” Gunilla Norris states, “We must share life, share bread with each other. We are each given only so much time. And to make this time matter, in order to really live, we need to give, we need to receive. We need to love. Bread, life and love are fused in the soul of the human experience.”

Those who know me well know that I love to make bread. Mike (husband) calls it my therapy because I often make bread when I am feeling stressed.Volunteering, like bread, improves the quality of life for everyone.

I began volunteering in the second grade when my Brownie leader asked us to bring canned goods to the meetings before the winter holidays. I was fortunate to have had a wonderful mixture of experiences and role models when I was young because there were people who elected to volunteer.

Family members, Brownie and Girl Scout leaders, Scout camp counselors, teachers, nuns who taught Sunday school, clergy, parents of friends and a host of other adults in my childhood helped form me and shape my ideas about service to others. My father counseled me to “always remember what people have done for you and give back to others.” Time given to volunteering can be as much or as little as one can do.

Just as bread is the staff of life, ‘‘Volunteering may not only help people feel good about themselves, it may actually help them live longer”* because it enriches social networks and provides a medium for increased physical activity, according to a study conducted by Dr. Alex Harris of the Center for Health Care Evaluation at the Veterans Health Administration in Palo Alto, Calif., and Dr. Carl Thorenson of Stanford University.

About Kay

WHO: Kay Reynolds Flood

WHAT: Community volunteer and career consultant

EDUCATION: Master of Arts, ministry, Ursuline College, Pepper Pike; Bachelor of Arts, English, Walsh University

COMMUNITY SERVICE: Women’s Board of Aultman Hospital, (1989-present); Aultman End of Life Committee, 2006-present; publisher, Help Guide, 1997-present; Shared Blessings, 2005-present; JR Coleman Women in History Luncheon Committee, 2004-present.

OTHER: Member of St. Michael the Archangel parish, Canton Garden Club and the Thursday morning Bible study group at Trinity United Church of Christ. Junior League of Canton’s 2007 Woman of the Year Community Award recipient and a 2007 inductee into the YWCA Women’s Hall of Fame. Kay and her husband, Michael E. Flood, have three children, John, Christopher and Anne, and six grandchildren, Brandy, Daniel, Shannon, Andrew, Katherine and David.