LEWISTON – Florence Belanger finds her purpose in tiny ways, folding open a milk carton for a girl or buttering a roll for a little boy.

Four days a week, Belanger, 90, lends a hand in the kitchen at Trinity Catholic Elementary School. Most mornings begin at 8:30 a.m., with the great-grandmother rolling up the 100 or so bundles of spoons, forks and straws needed by the children.

Her workday ends when the last child is seated in the lunchroom beneath Lisbon Street’s Holy Cross Church.

“I’ve been blessed, really,” said Belanger, known to the kids and grown-ups alike as “Gigi.” “I love the kids. They keep me alive.”

They give her a reason to leave her apartment each day, climb into her car and drive across the city.

There’s no pay, except for the hugs she often collects from the kids in the lunch-line.

“It’s what keeps me going,” she said.

Belanger started the volunteer job at the relatively young age of 79. Her grandson, Guy Lemelin, entered the school’s kindergarten and she figured it’d be fun to be close to him.

She got to see him every day. Soon, other kids gravitated to the silver-haired lady who was always the first in the serving line.

“It’s the best thing for her,” said her daughter, Irene Lemelin of Lewiston. The volunteer work has become part of a carefully structured week that also includes church on the weekend and a visit to a hair dresser every Friday.

“She gets out every day,” Lemelin said. If nothing else is going on, Belanger goes to the Dollar Tree store or Wal-Mart, which she calls, “Wallymart.”

Her rain-or-shine schedule can be a bit rough. The only days she misses are the snow days deemed too unsafe for the school buses.

If the kids go, so does Gigi.

They also helped her celebrate her 90th birthday on Dec. 4.

A weekend of family celebrations for Belanger, who has six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, began at the school lunchroom.

Family from Chicago surprised her with a massive cake and balloons. They were joined by kid-created posters and a stack of cards a foot high.

“I was shocked,” Belanger said. “They sang for me.”