Mary Keener may be turning 91 this week, but she's still reaching out to help people in need and staying out of that rocking chair.

Earlier this month, the Fairmount Homes resident went for a week to New Iberia in southeast Louisiana with Mennonite Disaster Service.

Mennonite Disaster Service is continuing to repair and rebuild houses from Hurricanes Rita, Gustav and Ike, which struck the area in 2005 and 2008. During the hurricanes, 11-foot-high tidal surges came onshore, flooding houses as far as 30 miles inland.

Keener said she heard about the service opportunity from Sylvanus Martin at Village Chapel services one Sunday, and she asked him what it was all about it.

"He took it for granted that I was going," she said, so the next Sunday he told others to talk to her.

So Keener talked to her five children, asking them what they thought about it.

"They said, 'Go for it!'" Keener said.

She then checked with her doctor. "He said, 'Go for it, but use good judgment,'" she said, so she signed up.

"We left Village Chapel (at Fairmount Homes) at 7:30 on Saturday morning and drove to Carlisle, where we picked up more and got there Saturday evening. We lost four hours because of the weather and an accident. For two-and-a-half hours we were standing still for an accident," Keener said.

While her group was in Louisiana, she said, "it was 64 degrees and so muggy. It was not nice out to work in."

There also was a swamp just 15 feet from where the evening meals were made in a community center, she said.

Keener helped prepare meals in the kitchen, along with several other women, who were scheduled to be there full time from January to April.

"I made a lot of cookies and helped clean some," she said.

The first day in the kitchen, Keener spent four-and-a-half hours by herself with a list of things she could do. She said she tried to get as many things done as she could.

While Keener spent her days in the kitchen, the rest of the group put up a complete new house, moved a trailer, put in a foundation and a new roof and repaied the interior damage from a leak. They also installed wiring in another home.

Keener said she was "kind of disappointed" she couldn't get out into the field, but said she enjoyed being there and helping with the cooking.

She said her absence also gave her children the opportunity to spend more time with their father. Keener's husband, Lester, is in skilled care at Fairmount Homes, and Keener usually helps him with his evening meal. While she was away, their children helped out.

For her efforts, Keener was given the "Golden Paint Brush Award," which was decorated with Mardi Gras beads.

Her trip to Louisiana was hardly the first time Keener has volunteered to help others, she said. She and her husband did voluntary service work with Habitat for Humanity at Johns Island, 20 miles from Charleston, S.C., in 1985-86.

"We took turns making the meals, and Lester and I did the grocery buying once a week," she said.

She also did visitation and Bible study with the group, and has helped out at Good's Store, Black Rock Retreat, Camp Andrews and the Solanco Fair, where she worked in the kitchen. In 2003, Keener and her husband were named Grand Marshals of the Solanco Fair Parade.

In her spare time, she makes school kits, is part of three sewing circles and helps clean bottles and silverware for the retirement community's silent auction.

And as if that weren't enough, she rides a stationary bike 2 miles once a week and participates in prayer walks around her building at Fairmount Homes.

"Some people think I'm off my rocker," Keener said. "But why should I sit still? If someone needs a helping hand, I'm here to help. I enjoy helping people."

lvaningen@lnpnews.com