Chris Duren's volunteer spirit is visible in many facets of the Jefferson City community, from schools to youth activities to art.
"Where you live is where you've been planted to be a bright light," Duren said, and she hopes to be a positive role model for people, particularly children, and especially her own.
She's humbled to be recognized this week at the Jefferson City Public Schools Foundation's gala as an Outstanding Volunteer.
"It almost felt too soon," she said of the honor, because, she added, "I have no interest in stopping. I love volunteering."
She imagines continuing to volunteer even after her children have moved on from Moreau Heights Elementary School, where she's the Parent-Teacher Organization president and where she got involved in volunteering with the school district when her oldest child was in kindergarten.
Duren spoke with the News Tribune last week at Moreau Heights' office, where the smell of fresh-popped popcorn permeated the air. The popcorn was provided by the PTO for students to purchase on a rewards cart using points they had accumulated through good behavior.
A kernel of wisdom from Duren was that being a positive impact in people's lives changes the world - even through things as simple as a smile or high-five.
She and her husband have two children at Moreau Heights and three sons at Lewis and Clark Middle School.
With their boys in football and a daughter in gymnastics, it's helpful to know about inner and outer strength - and Duren has experience in teaching both.
She teaches an elective class three days a week for middle school girls at Lighthouse Preparatory Academy. The class, "Fortis," is about "fortifying their inner strength and building them up," Duren said.
She also volunteers with Lighthouse's fine arts department and is directing the fall play - "Uncle Phil's Diner," an interactive dinner theater.
Duren is the former owner of a Taekwondo studio, where she was an instructor. She's a third-degree black belt and a two-time world champion in 1995 and 1996 in first-degree black belt in the women's division of ATA Martial Arts.
"It set me up for success for my whole life," she said of martial arts.
What artists can achieve despite adversity is something she enjoys sharing with children who visit the Jefferson City Museum of Modern Art, where she's docent and manager.
In addition to supporting teachers, staff and students at Moreau Heights through the PTO, working and volunteering at Lighthouse, and her work with JCMoMA, Duren coordinates the communications for seventh-graders' football team at Lewis and Clark, she's been a Girl Scout troop leader for two years, and she serves on the Jefferson City School District's Equity Counsel, among other activities with JC Schools and other service activities with her family.
"I have an impressive Google calendar," she said.
"I have to force myself to have 'me time,'" she admitted, though she tries to have lunch with friends or meet with a group of them for even one night a month.
Sometimes, with five children, "just fixing my hair today is a self-care plan," she said.
Still, it does not seem like Duren would have it any other way, and she said her volunteering feels natural to her.
"I think all of us need that," she said of being able to be "that smile on a face" for people.