Margaret Lines turned 100 on Tuesday, July 28. She still shows up almost every Tuesday to stock shelves at the Community Assistance Center's food pantry on Roswell Road.

Lines is the CAC's oldest volunteer on record, according to CEO and President Francis K. Horton III. The nonprofit threw her a surprise birthday party on June 28 at the pantry, a month before her actual centennial, Rough Draft Atlanta reported.

Horton, holding a piece of birthday cake at the June 28 celebration, called Lines and her daughter "the epitome of volunteers" and said their weekly consistency puts some 40-year-old volunteers to shame.

Lines moved to Atlanta from Arizona at age 96, leaving behind about a dozen community and social obligations. She lives independently in a care home in Peachtree Corners, takes very little medication, and, by her daughter's account, does not like to sit down.

Before retiring, Lines worked as a registered dietitian for three decades. She is a 43-year breast cancer survivor who counseled other cancer patients in Arizona after leaving the profession. She bowled competitively as a college freshman at Purdue University on a 4-H scholarship and still watches Purdue football and basketball.

Every Tuesday, Lines and her daughter Nancy Overheim volunteer at one of the CAC's three mini-market food pantries in the Central Perimeter area, where clients shop for groceries rather than receiving pre-packaged bags. After their shift, the pair drives to Big Play Atlanta in Dunwoody for $2-per-hour Tuesday bowling. Overheim said her mother usually wins, armed with more than eight decades of experience and her own ball. A group of about six regulars now joins them at the lanes.

The CAC served 9,632 clients through all programs in 2025, prevented 1,108 evictions, and distributed 1.1 million pounds of food, according to nonprofit leadership. More than 500 volunteers gave over 53,000 hours last year, and the organization averages 520 volunteers a month.

Horton said the CAC especially needs regular volunteers on Friday afternoons, when staff prepares for Saturday operations, and on Wednesday afternoons. The nonprofit trains all new volunteers before they begin.

Lines had her own pitch for would-be volunteers: "What are you doing for your community? That would be my first question … Is there anything you're doing? Are you just sitting there, twiddling your thumbs and doing your knitting?"

Residents can sign up at ourcac.org/volunteer or call (770) 552-4889.