Lester Baker can tell you. The 78 year old retiree is part of a Houston Airport System (HAS) project called the Volunteer Initiative Program, which is intended to enhance community involvement, improve customer relations and create a more customer friendly environment in the airports.

“I saw the deal in the newspaper that they (were) looking for volunteers and I had a couple of days free; and I thought it would be something different, to help people find their way and do better things,” says Baker, a Southern Pacific Railroad retiree.

Prior to answering the ad in the Houston Chronicle, the city’s local newspaper, Baker had spent 45 years working for the railroad company.

“Those who come generally come for one main reason, that is to help people,” says Caroline Schneider, HAS customer service manager. “The program gives us the flexibility to better serve the public by engaging qualified and experienced people who serve as our eyes and ears for security while also offering smiling, helpful faces to people in need.”

Schneider is responsible for training and coordinating all the volunteers that participate in the airport system’s program.

As part of the initiative, volunteers from around the Houston metropolitan area are given a three day training course and an introduction to the airports. They must also complete a 10-year FBI background check for badging purposes, but otherwise the program includes only minimal requirements such as being able to work at least four hours every week.

Schneider also makes it a point to let volunteers know that they will be doing a lot of walking.

In order to better assist the traveling public, volunteers must be healthy enough to explore the miles of walking space and businesses available to travelers inside of the airports. Their main duties are to staff the various information booths which operate 16 hours a day and are located throughout the five airport terminals.

“Yes Ma’m, it has been a very, very good experience. I have enjoyed it greatly,” says Baker.