Interfaith Honors Volunteers & Community Partner of the Year

Each year, Interfaith Social Services dedicates an evening to honor and celebrate all of its amazing volunteers. This year’s Volunteer Appreciation Night was held June 13 at the Quincy Masonic Building (thank you, Masons!) and more than 100 volunteers and staff gathered to celebrate.

Guests enjoyed a delicious dinner catered by Black’s Creek BBQ and cookies and brownies from Kate’s Confections. A round of trivia after dinner crafted by our very own executive director, Rick Doane, kept everyone on their toes, and we ended the night giving away prizes from a free raffle.

Volunteers got to take a night off to socialize with one another without having to bag groceries, check in clients, hang up clothes or check expiration dates. Whether they help out in the pantry, Thrift Shop, front desk, at one of our fundraising events or serve on our Board, they are ALL absolutely essential in Interfaith being able to deliver our programs efficiently and compassionately.

Paula Daniels, Interfaith’s Director of Development, spoke at the event and said, “We treat our volunteers like they are staff. We rely on our volunteers like they are staff. We have 135 generous ‘staff’ members right now who give us their all each and every week. This past year, volunteers sorted through 10,000 bags of clothes for our Thrift Shop, distributed nearly 100,000 bags of groceries, re-stocked our pantry with more than 1 million pounds of food, and helped raise $550,000 at our Gala and 5K events. They are truly our saving grace, allowing us to serve all who come to us asking for help.”

Attendees went home from the event with Dunkin’ gift cards as a token of appreciation. Volunteers are the heart and soul of Interfaith Social Services’ programs and we are so grateful for each and every one of them.

Hall of Fame

During Volunteer Appreciation Night, Interfaith inducted 29 volunteers into the Matti Lang Volunteer Hall of Fame. This honor is bestowed upon those who have served at Interfaith regularly for at least one year. The Hall of Fame is named after one of Interfaith’s most dedicated volunteers, Matti Lang, who gave decades of his life selflessly serving Interfaith’s clients. Interfaith considers all of its volunteers its heroes – they make sure that none of our neighbors in need go hungry or lose hope.

Our 2024 Matti Lang Volunteer Hall of Fame Inductees:

Sylvie Abbott

Anne Acton

Wave Bascombe

Nancy Brokamp

Donna Bulka

Christine Chaudhary

Paula Cole

Andrea Concannon

Elaine Enos

Elizabeth Finkenstaedt

Brendan Gavaghan

Susan Gavaghan

Marilyn Hayes

Jean Kelliher

Andrea King

Terrence Manning

Kate O’dell-Goldie

Jacob Perlmuter

Martha Regan

Michael Riley

Lillian Rogers

Katherine Rondinelli

Mallory Sain

Marsha Sherman

Lucy Smith

Laura Sorgi

Clifton Sullivan

Jim Sullivan

Anna Wilson

Community Partner of the Year

In addition to the Hall of Fame induction, Interfaith also honored their 2024 Community Partner of the Year, Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation. This award honors businesses or organizations that have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to volunteerism.

The mission of Dunkin’s foundation is aligned nicely with ours. Like Interfaith, one of their goals is to provide simple joys to children battling hunger. They give more than $9 million dollars to organizations like ours around the country each year.

Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation has been a strong community partner of Interfaith’s since 2019. Dunkin’ volunteers have donated more than 130 volunteer hours to Interfaith over these past 5 years. We are deeply grateful for the time and service their hard-working teams have given to us. Their example motivates other businesses and community groups to get involved and stay involved.

The Foundation has also supported us by providing much needed grant money that sustained us through the difficult COVID pandemic years and beyond. Since 2019, the Foundation has donated close to $100,000! These grants have allowed us to purchase fresh produce for our food pantry, and have provided JOY to the children we serve. We have been able to purchase Halloween costumes, school supplies, toys and goodies for Bunny Baskets and holiday gifts for thousands of children living in difficult situations here on the South Shore.

“Support from Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation has helped our food pantry cope with significant demands for our services”, said Paula Daniels, Interfaith’s Director of Development. “In 2019 when the Foundation started supporting us, we were distributing 56,000 bags of groceries to local families in need. This past year, we distributed 96,000 bags of groceries and hygiene supplies! Their amazing contributions over the years have meant so much to us and their positive impact is immeasurable!”

Several of the Foundation’s employees attended the volunteer appreciation event and accepted the award on its behalf.

Volunteers Wanted

Are YOU looking for volunteer opportunities? Weekly volunteer shifts are now available in our Food Pantry and Thrift Shop.

Volunteer Requirements:

You have the time to commit to one 3-hour volunteer shift per week (available shifts are Monday – Friday between the hours of 9am and 3:30pm – no evenings or weekends shifts are available);
You can commit to volunteering with us for at least 2-3 months;
You are 16 years of age or older;
You are able to work in a fast-paced environment;
You can lift up to 30 lbs repeatedly;
Bilingual speaking (especially Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish or Portuguese) are encouraged to apply!

If you meet the requirements above, please fill out the questionnaires below. PLEASE NOTE: This form is used to collect information only. If you are selected to fill one of our shifts, we will reach out to you to set up an interview.

Food Pantry Questionnaire
Thrift Shop Questionnaire