Resident Featured In Our State, North Carolina Magazine
On Purpose: Volunteers at the Center for Purposeful Living teach human goodness, selfless sacrifice, responsibility, and teamwork.

January, 2005 - Dr. Benjamin Pusser calmly examines an injured, visibly distraught patient in the high-octane world of the emergency room, dispensing sound medical treatment, heartfelt compassion, and words of comfort. This, he believes, is his calling in life.

A couple of hours later, this same young doctor fins himself in a small restaurant, busing tables or perhaps scrubbing pots back in the kitchen – a stark contrast to his work in the ER. But this, too, Pusser believes, is his calling in life.

As a doctor – he is a resident in family medicine at Northeast Medical Center in Concord – Pusser presumably will make large sums of money. For his work as a busboy and occasional pot-scrubber at California Fresh Buffet in Winston-Salem, he is paid nothing, and he likes it that way. And, he adds, both jobs are equally fulfilling.
Why the dichotomy? How can one man be so content in two such blatantly opposite roles?
It’s part of the education Pusser gained at the Center for Purposeful Living, a Winton-Salem institution that teaches others such meaningful concepts as human goodness, selfless service to others, personal responsibility, and teamwork.

“It’s called ‘a soul-centered education for a lifetime,’ says Pusser, a 30-year-old Black Mountain native who now serves on the center’s board of directors. “The overriding idea is that you can receive training on how to be a better all-around person, whether in your work environment or your personal life, and in your relationships, too. When I got involved, it changed my whole perception of life.”

Calling Volunteers
At the heart of the center’s unique mission is volunteer service, and that’s how Pusser got involved. He had done some volunteer work as a student at Davidson College, so in 1997, when he went to Winston-Salem to conduct research at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine, he decided to continue his volunteer efforts. Specifically, he began working with a unique organization he had heard of called the Human Service Alliance, which cared for terminally ill patients and provided respite care for the families of developmentally disabled children. What makes the organization so unique is that it is run completely by volunteers, is funded strictly by donations, and all of its services are absolutely free.

It was in 1997 that the Human Service Alliance established the educational component that would become the Center for Purposeful Living. (It originally was called the University for the Study of Human Goodness and Creative Group Work.) The center was a natural offshoot of the Human Service Alliance’s work, group leaders say, because it remains true to the organization’s original mission.

“When we began the Human Service Alliance in late 1986 and early 1987, we were just a few volunteers caring for terminally ill patients,” says Susan Baggett of Walkertown, president of the board and one of the group’s founding members. “The common denominator among all of us was that we were all interested in making service a way of life, or at the very least a significant part of our lives.”

The program expanded with the addition of the respite care for developmentally disabled children, and the organization began to receive awards and earn some national recognition. That’s when the opportunity presented itself to add the educational component, according to Baggett.

“People began to ask us how we were doing what we were doing – all donations, no government money, all volunteers with no paid staff, no fees charged,” she says. “As groups started inquiring, we recognized that the next step in our work was the share what we’d learned. That was really the birth of the Center for Purposeful Living.”

Students from across the country – and even some international students – have come to the center’s Winston-Salem campus to live for a year and get what Pusser described as a “soul-centered education.” Students receive free room and board and are immersed in a world of service and volunteerism, where they learn to dedicate themselves to serving others, rather than focusing strictly on their own agendas.

“We’re training people to be world-servers,” Baggett says. “That’s our goal.”

Focus on the Positive
To that end, the center offers a number of courses designed to help students learn to make service an important part of their lives:

“Becoming the Totally Responsible Person,” for example, teaches students how to stay positive, productive, and effective, no matter the circumstances. “Being a totally responsible person is one of the ways we maintain a positive attitude,” Baggett explains. “We see things as opportunities rather than problems. Everything becomes an opportunity for learning and growth.”

“On Purpose Education, Now!” is designed to help young adults and college-age students find their calling in life. “Young people can come and discover more about who they really are and why they’re here, what their purpose is,” Baggett says. “We help them find purpose in life, and it can be so incredibly satisfying and gratifying.”

“Service Entrepreneur Training” shows groups, nonprofits, and individuals, how to create organizations that serve the needs of their communities. The teaching is based, obviously, on the model of work done by the Human Service Alliance.

And then there is the innovative California Fresh Buffet, where Dr. Benjamin Pusser trades his white jacket and stethoscope for an apron and a dishtowel. The popular restaurant, which officials of the Center for Purposeful Living refer to as a “service-learning laboratory,” is staffed primarily by volunteers – at least 85 percent, according to the center’s website – and profits are donated to charity. The restaurant is where students put into practice what they learn in the classroom.

“The whole concept is to serve others and to do that joyfully,” says Pusser, whose wife, Margaret, also volunteers at California Fresh Buffet. “It’s just a fun, neat environment to be in, because the volunteers who work there are there because they want to be there. It’s very fulfilling.”

Pusser’s feelings about the program are typical of students who get involved with the Center for Purposeful Living, according to Baggett. “When we bring ourselves into an environment where we focus on being positive – where the focus is on something other than ourselves – it’s a wonderful learning experience,” she says. “My own experience is that life gets more joyful every day.”

Tomlin, Jimmy. “On Purpose: Volunteers at the Center for Purposeful Living teach human goodness, selfless sacrifice, responsibility, and teamwork.” Our State, North Carolina January 2005: 96-100.