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100-year-old Bozeman woman spends thousands of hours volunteering

Posted at 5:49 PM, Feb 20, 2020
and last updated 2020-02-21 16:20:53-05

BOZEMAN — Dorothy Roeder just celebrated her 100th birthday, and she’s choosing to celebrate by doing something she’s done her entire life- volunteering.

“Yeah. I spent a lot of time all over,” she explained.

And she has the hours to prove it. Dorothy has over 35,000 hours in volunteering and community service.

“I think that’s all,” she said.

Dorothy serves all over Gallatin County with the HRDC, but nothing beats the time she gets to spend volunteering at the Bozeman Senior Center.

“It’s a bunch of women that meets every Tuesday morning. We make baby afghans. Hats. We give 50 baby hats to the hospital," she explained.

Dorothy makes sure everyone at the center is being useful.

“She’s always giving me things to do,” said Odessa Mills.

Mills is one of Dorothy’s many friends at the center.

“I just love her to pieces. I miss seeing her when she’s not here, and I miss seeing her when I’m not here. She's been a good friend here,” Mills said.

Between being a good friend at the center and volunteering, Dorothy says this is what keeps her going.

“But it’s fun. You meet a lot of people, and they come back year after year.”

And year after year, you can find Dorothy volunteering and making others happy.

“Thank you ma’am. Don’t know what we’d do without out,” Dorothy said to another woman at the senior center.

Dorothy has received the Home Instead Montana's Salute to Senior Service Award, as well as the Points of Light Award among many other recognition for her efforts.