The mid-morning sun shone warmly into the gift shop at Roanoke’s new O. Winston Link Museum and a freight train rumbled just outside the room’s glass wall.

“This is a great train watching place,” said volunteer John Turvey of Roanoke.

The museum is home to the black and white photos of New York photographer Link. Link followed the steam locomotives of the Norfolk & Western Railway along the tracks that ran through the towns of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland from 1955 until 1960.

From the gift shop, and the lobby of the museum entrance, a visitor has a front row view to Norfolk Southern Railway’s three tracks

–leading to Norfolk, Hagerstown, Md., and Winston-Salem, N.C.– that converge nearby. The museum is in a former Norfolk & Western Railway station.

Turvey, 59, is retired from Norfolk Southern and has volunteered around trains since 1984 when he started at the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

He also still works the gift shop at the transportation museum, which is across the tracks and up the street a bit from the O. Winston Link facility.

Turvey said he volunteers because he wants to give back to his community, but being able to combine volunteer work with his hobby of trains makes the experience even better.

Like Turvey, many volunteers at the Link museum are fascinated by trains.

That’s certainly why LaWanda Ely of Bedford County staffs the museum information desk.

Ely came to the museum to find a paying job after losing her job when her company cut employees. When she didn’t get hired at the museum, she volunteered to work there.

Many years ago, Ely, 65, worked for the Roanoke Transportation Museum that was in Wasena Park in Roanoke.

“I was born in Roanoke, but I had never ridden a train. When the 611 engine was restored, I started riding excursion trips,” she said. “I’ve been hooked every since.”

Now her goal is to get either a fulltime job at the museum or a part-time clerical or data entry job somewhere else so she can still volunteer at the museum.

Some volunteers work a day a week at the Link Museum, but a full day is not required. Volunteers can schedule a half day if they wish.

The O. Winston Link Museum is affiliated with the Roanoke Valley History Museum. Since it officially opened in early January, the museum has drawn visitors from Europe and quite a few states.

The O. Winston Link Museum is at 101 Shenandoah Ave. in downtown Roanoke across from The Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. It is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Admission prices are: Adults $5, seniors $4, children $3.

For more information about the museum or volunteer opportunities,
call 540/982-5465 or visit www.linkmuseum.org.

Meals on Wheels

The LOA Area Agency on Aging Meals-on-Wheels program needs volunteers in all areas that the program serves. In the past year, Meals-on-Wheels has served more than 1,000 homebound elderly citizens in the 5th Planning District.

The program relies on volunteers to deliver the meals Monday through Friday to homebound persons over 60 years of age. Routes usually take between one to two hours. Meals are delivered from sites in the following areas: Roanoke, Salem, Fincastle, Buchanan, Craig County, and Alleghany County. Volunteers can work any number of days each week or each month - the volunteer decides. The routes take one and a half to two hours to complete (from 10 to 10:30 a.m. until noon.)

For more information about becoming a Meals-on-Wheels volunteer, contact Michele Daley at
(540) 345-0451 or Doris Hansel at (540) 777-1262.

RSVP program

RSVP, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program operated by the League of Older Americans for 30 years, moved to the Council of Community Services in October and is inviting new enrollees.

RSVP is open to people 55 and over. Volunteers are not paid, but sponsoring organizations may reimburse them for some costs incurred during service. RSVP is part of Senior Corps Network, which includes the Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion programs.

RSVP locally serves Roanoke, Salem and Vinton and the counties of Roanoke, Botetourt and Alleghany. Among the volunteer opportunities are tutoring for school-age children, assisting in nursing homes and hospitals, delivering meals to home-bound individuals, and clerical work.