We want to be like Josephine Misunas when we grow up.

When we really grow up, that is.

Misunas is 96 years old. Usually at that age, it's other people who help you get through the day.

But Misunas, going strong as she edges up to the century mark, instead has a career as a volunteer that she has no intention of giving up.

For 17 years, Misunas has made tea, coffee and served juice at the Sacred Heart Soup Kitchen in Waterville. "And then," she says, "if they need help in the kitchen, like they're preparing something for a meal, I help there, too."

Time to quit? Misunas can't. Her friends at the kitchen won't let her.

"I've met a lot of women in my life," says Dick Willette, who runs the kitchen in the Sacred Heart Church basement. "This gal here is something else. Very, very dependable, she's always the same."

Sheila Gaulin, a cook at the kitchen, says "I've been here eight years, I met her here and now, she's like my grammie. I've adopted her."

The only thing better than having a volunteer like Misunas, we figure, is being Misunas herself and knowing that the help you give is so deeply appreciated.