A full car is not unusual for Doris Mezzenga of Crosslake. Photo by Betty Ryan

The 12-hour shifts as a dispatcher for the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office have been replaced by the Crosslake Food Shelf, the Clothes Closet, picking up donated furniture for Social Services or the women's shelter, volunteering at church and, of course, her two bowling leagues.

Doris credits her in-laws, Augie and Betty Mezzenga, for getting her involved with helping others. She was Augie's assistant at the food shelf and helped with the furniture pickups. When Augie died, she took over managing the food shelf and Betty's furniture pickups.

The Crosslake Food Shelf is located in Pine Ridge Plaza on County Road 3. The owner offered the food shelf an adjoining space, which is now being remodeled.

"With this additional space we will be able to order more food at one time," Doris said. "I have 18 volunteers who help pack the boxes of food. We have served as many as 50 to 58 families and now have 48 families on our roll. Jim Couch is the treasurer and helps in many ways. He takes care of the money, pays the bills and sends out the thank you letters."

The food shelf is open from 9 a.m. to noon the first and third Fridays of the month.

Doris said Betty Mezzenga had gone to the Crosslake churches and asked them to include a small notice in their bulletins about where they could donate furniture. Doris stepped in to keep the program going after Augie died.

"It was too good a program to let it die," Doris said. "I decided to take it over."

Paul Wilmus had offered Betty storage space at his Mission Storage Sheds. Now the notice in the church bulletins lists Doris' phone number. She e-mails Crow Wing County Social Services with a list of what's in storage, and if it's something someone can use, they pick it up.

"It all goes to a good cause," she said. "Women come to the shelter with the clothes on their back. That's all. When they are ready to go into an apartment, they need every thing from beds, tables, chairs to kitchen pots and pans.

Last week, Doris had picked up donations, including a bread maker, electric coffee pot, a big bag of plastic bags for the food shelf and other miscellaneous donations. Her car was filled, including the back seat. And she was on her way to pick up some more things.

A woman at Edina Realty told her that often when someone sells a home they leave some furniture behind. Doris said the women was delighted to have a place to get rid of the furniture and have it help someone. If someone calls with a furniture donation and they have no way to get it to the storage building, Doris and Jan will pick it up and take it to the storage building.

Doris is also involved with the Crosslake Clothes Closet located in the basement of Lakes State Bank. The closet is open September to May. Dodo Frazer is in charge.

"It's a wonderful service to the community," Doris said. "Families can find school clothes for their children. "

And even though the closet is now closed, if you have clothing to donate, call Doris. She'll see that it gets in the Clothes Closet.

Now that she is no longer dispatching deputies, Doris has more time for her other volunteer activities at Crosslake Lutheran Church.

"Lois Laurence will call me and say, 'Now, you can say no,' but working every other weekend I said no many times, so now I'm taking my turn," Doris said.

Doris' other passion is bowling - something she's been doing since she was 20. She grew up on a farm near Pine Island and teases Jan, telling him he married a farm girl.

She belongs to two bowling leagues, both at the Paul Bunyan Bowl. The Monday afternoon league is a casual group. No special shirts, just a lot of fun bowling. She has a 153 average.

The Tuesday night league is a little less casual, Doris said. A retired sheriff's deputy, Jan was concerned about her driving into Brainerd on winter nights. After she retired, Jan thought maybe it would be wise if she didn't drive into Brainerd on Tuesday nights. He might as well have told her to stop breathing.

Doris is vice president of the U.S. Women's Bowling Association. She has bowled in state and national tournaments and is looking forward to 2010 when the national convention will be in El Paso, Texas.

Doris organized the April garage sale, which is held at the bowling alley. She starts working on that in January, picking up items donated by bowlers, taking them home, marking them and putting them in boxes to be ready for the April sale.

"We raised over $1,200 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation this April," Doris said. "That was exciting. This summer we are going to have a booth at the Crow Wing County Fair. We're looking to get more women interested in bowling. We need some younger women to join us."

Fortunately, the bowling leagues don't meet in the summer. That left plenty of time for Doris and Jan to enjoy a family reunion of their eight children (this is the second marriage for both of them and they each have four children) and 13 grandchildren.

"It was a wonderful time," Doris said.

Doris Mezzenga is a poster woman for the adage, "If you need help, ask a busy woman."