Volunteer Ray Carden
When
you first meet Ray Carden its apparent he loves people. Perhaps that is
the reason he gives so much time and effort to the causes he cares for.
Ray and his wife Pat moved to our community in 1999 after he had
completed a successful career with General Electric. In 37 years with
GE he went from the mailroom to becoming a regional sales manager with
the company. Ray and Pat lived in several areas through Texas. “Dallas,
Lubbock, Ft. Worth, and Houston were all places we enjoyed, but we knew
we would eventually end up back in east Texas.”
It was during his time in Dallas that Ray first
became involved in volunteer work. He and several coworkers began
working on weekends with Habitat For Humanity. This was an organization
that General Electric and Ray himself, believed in deeply. “A couple of
years after our first project house was completed I went back to the
neighborhood to see how things were going, I was pleasantly surprised
to see that the houses we helped to build had become homes and the
residents took so much pride in their new neighborhood.”
Today, Ray is involved in several organizations
in the Lindale community and retirement has become an opportunity to
give back to others. On any given day, he can be found around the
community working with Meals on Wheels, volunteering as a tutor at
Lindale Primary School, helping out at the Dr. David Powell Food
Pantry, or ministering to prisoners through Kairos Prison Ministries.
Perhaps his biggest impact in our community has
been his work with the Dr. David Powell Food Pantry. The food pantry is
a mission of the First United Methodist Church in Lindale. Beginning in
2000, Ray temporarily volunteered to manage the food pantry,
that temporary position lasted seven years. “The food pantry is vital
to this community," says Ray, “we serve over 750 clients a month and
distribute over 125,000 pounds of food in the Lindale area each year.”
Thanks to the food drives and monetary help they receive from other
community churches and the East Texas Food Bank, the food pantry is
able to help those in need in our community.
Ray and Pat are active members of First United
Methodist Church. Ray is a volunteer Lay Speaker as well as substitute
Sunday school teacher, children’s ministry volunteer and leader of a
bible study group. Ray credits a Walk to Emmaus Retreat
five years ago that changed his life. “After experiencing the Emmaus
retreat I came away with a new perspective for how I view my fellow man
and how I should exercise my faith.” From that experience, he became
involved with Kairos Prison Ministries. “I have learned through my
experience with Kairos that there are good people in prison who made
bad choices.” Kairos Prison Ministries is a volunteer organization that
ministers to incarcerated individuals, their families, and those who work with them. Over
the past five years the Kairos team has spent ten weekends at the
Michael Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice sharing their
faith and ministering to the spiritual needs of prisoners. Ray adds, “I
have never come away from one of those weekends that I have not been
blessed by an experience with those men.”
When asked why he devotes so much time to our
community, Ray simply replies, “Every person can find an opportunity to
help his neighbor. God has blessed me in so many ways; I consider it my
privilege to give back to others. That gives me so much joy! I love
what I do every day!”
Lindale State Bank salutes Ray Carden for his service to others and encourages you to be a helping hand in our community!
