For Mary Faries being a member of Altrusa International is a serious time commitment.

The service club has weekly and monthly meetings for her to attend, sometimes there are trips abroad, and fundraisers often take up her Saturdays.

She doesn’t care.

“You make time for what you love,” said the 64-year-old, who also works full time.

She said her family thought she was a little crazy to give so much of her time to volunteer work.

“But I love to give,” she said.

She first joined in 1989 and is today one of Altrusa’s longest serving active members.

What has kept her going is the club’s focus on literacy. In the last 28 years she has helped Altrusa donate hundreds of books to local schools.

“I’ve always loved reading,” she said. “As a child I’d get up at 5am during the summers and start reading. That made Altrusa a good fit for me.”

She first got involved in 1987 when a work colleague asked for help with a club bake sale.

“I didn’t join right away because I had two small daughters at home,” she said. “I helped out for two years with fundraisers before I finally joined. But I fell in love with the club during that time.”

The Bermuda club is a chapter of an international organisation, broken down into districts. Bermuda is in district one, along with several New England states, and Quebec, Canada.

“One of my proudest moments was being elected governor of district one in April 2013,” she said.

“I am the third Bermudian to become district governor, and it had been 50 years since the last Bermudian district governor.”

She believes Altrusa has helped her develop leadership skills.

In 2002, district one gave her the Gabriel Crepeau Leadership Award for volunteer work in Jamaica.

“Myself and four friends volunteered at the Father Ho Lung Missions in Kingston, Jamaica, helping the religious brothers at the missions with their handicapped residents,” she said.

Some of the children at the mission had been abandoned by their families because they were sick or disabled.

She read, played with and helped to bathe some of them.

“This was a very humbling experience,” Mrs Faries said. “It really brought me down to a level to better understand some of the needs of individuals who are handicapped or have personal challenges.”

In 2000, Altrusa had about 33 active members, but today has about 14.

“Today it is difficult to get people to volunteer,” Mrs Faries said. “I think it is the same for all the clubs in Bermuda.”

She blamed the drop partly on the economy.

“Things became a bit of a struggle for people when the recession hit and some individuals had to take on second jobs, which did not allow for extra time to do volunteer work,” she said. “I stay a member because I believe in the organisation’s focus, which is improving literacy.”

Altrusa is always looking for new members, male or female.

For information visit altrusa.org or write to PO Box DV531 Devonshire.