Jennifer Sammons

Volunteer profile of the week – Linda Greene of Quincy

Linda and Steve Greene
Linda is one of Interfaith’s dedicated volunteers, serving in both the Food Pantry and Thrift Shop every week. Here she is with her husband Steve as they served food pantry clients together this spring.

Linda Greene has been volunteering at Interfaith Social Services for the past few months. She volunteers on Wednesday of each week in Interfaith’s Food Pantry and our Bureau Drawer Thrift Shop. In the morning she assembles food orders for clients in the food pantry and in the afternoon she sorts, tags and displays donated items in the Thrift Shop. Linda also helped to assemble hundreds of Easter Baskets for Interfaith’s clients this spring.

Linda began volunteering at Interfaith when she saw various newspaper articles detailing the work that Interfaith does in the community. She stopped by their office to ask if she could be of any service.

Linda encourages people to volunteer because she believes that “…we all need to help out people in need.” She loves volunteering so much that she has even brought her mom once or twice as well as her husband, Steve, who helped in the Food Pantry during the Easter season. Even as a first time volunteer Steve felt comfortable and said it was a great experience.

When asked what she likes most about volunteering at Interfaith, Linda responded, “I like to be able to help the community. It’s a nice way to give back, and it’s a comfortable place to be. My favorite experience has been seeing the appreciation of clients.”

When she’s not volunteering or babysitting her two grandchildren, Linda enjoys teaching children as a literacy specialist and she loves to bowl.

Thank you for your service Linda, as well as the hundreds of other amazing volunteers who together donated over 19,000 hours of service at Interfaith last year!

 

Many Hats – Life in a Small Non-Profit

multiple-hatsAt small nonprofit organizations staff members traditionally wear many hats. Such is the case at Interfaith Social Services. Our fundraising person is also our volunteer coordinator. Our executive director is also our IT, HR, and PR person. There is no receptionist, everyone answers the phone. Everyone chips in and does what needs to get done. Most organizations do this because they need to – limited budgets, program constraints, reduced funding, etc. Interfaith, however, does this by choice.

The organization operates with a small number of staff members so that we can make sure as much  funding as possible goes back to our programs. We believe strongly in the principle of stewardship. We are stewards of the donations that we receive, our solemn responsibility is to make sure that the funds are used to help as many people as possible. One unique factor which makes this possible is our  VOLUNTEERS. In 2014 Interfaith’s volunteers donated over 19,000 hours of time serving their neighbors in need through Interfaith’s programs. They make the difference. They are the heart and soul of our organization. Corporate teams, individuals, churches, school kids – these are our volunteers – this is our community. It is inspiring to serve beside them. Their dedication is infectious. Our staff might might wear many hats but the burden is lighter, life is less frantic, because of our volunteers and the support we receive from our community.