October's Pee Dee Hero, Mary Barrow, might seem like your average grandma.
But to her family and the community she serves, she is so much more than that.
Mary Barrow didn't set out to become a lifelong volunteer, instead it was something that was in her blood.
"I just think it's how you're raised. My parents brought me up to try to help others and to do the best you can and I think that's what it's from," said Barrow.
Barrow means a lot of things to a lot of people, but she means the most to her family.
She's a mother of five, a grandmother to nine and a great grandmother to nine more.
Tara Barrineau is just one of the grandchildren in the group, and says Barrow made a huge impact on her , and on the lives of everyone she meets.
"The smiles that you see on their faces and just the light in their eyes when they see her coming, it's beyond anything you can think of," said Barrineau.
For more than 30 years, Barrow's volunteered her time to those who need it most.
She spends countless hours helping with handicapped associations and conventions, has served as past national president of AMVETS, and is a lifelong member of her local V.F.W.
"My husband was in service and he died from wounds that he received in service.
Then my oldest son was in Vietnam and he received wounds from Vietnam, so I became very interested in the veterans," said Barrow.
For Barrow that volunteering includes visiting veterans at hospitals, talking to lawmakers about the needs of veterans and their widows and working on projects here at home.
Barrow's granddaughter says no one in the family was left out when it came to helping those in need.
"Throughout it all, helping everybody else, she's never taken anything away from the family, she's always given so much to the family,"said Barrineau.
Even members of the family's youngest generation say Barrow continues to teach the values of volunteerism.
"She's very generous to others. She's always wanted the best for me, not just for me but her other great-grandchildren and her grandchildren, even just her children. i just want to appreciate that because she's a very good grandma, a good great-grandma, and I love her, I always will," said Barrow's ten-year-old great-grandson, Justin Riley.
Mary Barrow is more than just your average giving grandma -she's a person who has devoted her life to helping others, and who aims to change the world, one person at a time.
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