For Ryan Lee, serving others is a calling.

“I’m fortunate that God has blessed my wife and our family and me; that he’s given us the opportunity to be more fortunate than other folks, and I feel like it’s our responsibility to do what we can to improve our community,” he said. “I feel like it’s my duty, that I’ve been called to make other lives better.

“My wife and I are from Vicksburg, both our families are here. We’re raising our children here. We’re very much invested in the community and want it to succeed, and I’m also blessed I work for a company that not only gives me a lot of time at times to go out and do these things, but encourages it. My wife is in Junior Auxiliary and does things for the church. We want to give back as much as we can, balancing work and family.”

A first vice president for commercial banking at Trustmark Banks, Lee’ first exposure to volunteer work came as a member of the Vicksburg Kiwanis Club, where he has served on the club’s board of directors and served a term as president in 2012. He is also involved with the United Way of West Central Mississippi, and is its current chairman of the board.

He has also served on the Red Cross Board of Directors and is a member of the YMCA men’s club. “My primary goal is how can I improve the lives of children,” he said. “I know there are more important issues, but if we are going improve our community, we need to help the generation that is coming.”

Lee’s introduction to Kiwanis came from a co-worker in 2006, soon after he went to work at Trustmark.

“I had no clue when I went to Kiwanis,” he said, adding his father-in-law is also a member. “I didn’t know what it was, and the members told me, ‘We’re a service club, we’re not a pass the hat club,’ and that fit in with what I wanted to do.”

Lee served as a board member for seven years before becoming president in 2012. During that time, the Kiwanis Club rebuilt the playground at Waltersville Estates housing project, which had been damaged by the 2011 spring Mississippi River flood.

“It showed what can happen when you get the community involved,” he said, adding people donated items and volunteers worked with Kiwanis members on the project.

He said Kiwanis member Donna Osburn was the influence for the Waltersville project.

“The club in the past had done a playground project, so we were familiar with it. We did some work on the playground at Good Shepherd.

“We wanted to do something after the flood, but there were so many things. Kiwanis’ focus is to improve the lives of children worldwide and in our community, so it fit right in. These kids lost their playground.

We were able to get grants through the Kiwanis and the community, Anderson-Tully donated mulch, so it was really a citywide effort. We installed equipment, Home Depot donated tools and sent volunteers. There were a lot of people out there.”

The Kiwanis golf ball drop that year benefitted United Way to help flood victims.

“That flood impacted a lot of people and is still impacting people today,” Lee said.

Like Kiwanis, Lee joined United Way of West Central Mississippi by invitation as a member of the donor investment committee and later its chairman. The committee, he said, helps decide how the money received by Unite Way is distributed.

He also served on the seven-member donor investment executive committee, which recommends the final allocations.

“I’m a big believer in United Way. All of us have at one time want to see how to make the biggest impact (in the community), and I can’t think of a better way than United Way, with its impact through its 22 partner agencies and all the work they do,” he said.

“It’s incredible when you go and visit those agencies and see what they’re doing, and knowing I’m a very, very small part of that.”

When he first joined United Way, Lee said, he initially thought it was a fundraising organization. He soon learned the organization is involved in other projects besides fundraising.

“It’s an essential voice for the community, where someone can call, or you can direct them to wherever they need to go — be a hub, be a unifying place for all these organizations to come together,” he said. “We’re not all trying to the same thing, no duplication of services. Collaboration with all these agencies is our key. The more people you can get to start a movement, the more creative and more successful the movement can be.

“I have visited each United Way facility,” he said. “When you see these agencies, that makes a difference. When you go out there and actually see what they’re doing, if that doesn’t make an impact on you, I don’t know what will. They are very talented, very giving people with a heart and talent for helping people.”

Besides his work with Kiwanis and United Way, Lee is a member of First Baptist Church where he serves as a deacon. He and his wife, a nurse at Merit Health River Region Medical Center, have two children. He is also very reluctant about discussing his volunteer activities.

“I was hesitant about doing this interview, because while I’m glad some people are getting attention, that’s not my reason for doing it. If I were doing it for that, it would be for the wrong reasons.”