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 August 14 at the Quincy Sons of Italy and nearly 120 volunteers and staff gathered to celebrate. Guests enjoyed a delicious dinner catered by Fasano’s and cookies and brownies from Kate’s Confections. After dinner, everyone took part in a lively trivia game and winners were pulled for a free raffle. Volunteers got to take a night off to socialize with one another and celebrate their accomplishments and contributions throughout the past year.
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, “Since last September, we have experienced 35 pantry shifts when there were 100+ households that came for groceries. In addition to that, there have been numerous shifts with 90+ households. These kinds of numbers are unprecedented and speak to the growing need for our services. And because of all of you, we are able to meet that need.
I know what you all signed up for is not your textbook volunteer program. We treat our volunteers like they are staff members. We truly rely on each and every one of our 152 volunteers in order to remain operational each day.
This past year, you sorted through more than 10,000 bags of clothes for our thrift shop and helped the shop bring in over $200,000 in sales! You distributed nearly 115,000 bags of groceries to our pantry clients and re-stocked our pantry with more than one million pounds of food! And many of you also helped our Gala and 5K events run smoothly, to raise close to $610,000 this past year! You are our saving grace, allowing us to serve all who come to us asking for help.”
Hall of Fame
During Volunteer Appreciation Night, Interfaith inducted 24 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.
Jeff Bochman
Jeannie Cai
Bob Carroll
Anne Dalton
Betsy Doherty
Peter Donohoe
Mary Driscoll
Cathy Elliot
Julie Farrell
Donna Flynn
Bill Lebo
Laura Lebo
Sandy Mason
Doug McDonald
Brian McGuire
Richard McLaughlin
Ellen Schwendenman
Janice Silver-Daniel
Connie Stoeckel
Jim Sullivan
Joe Szocik
Devon Werner
Lauren White
Community Partner of the Year
In addition to the Hall of Fame induction, Interfaith also honored their 2025 Community Partner of the Year, The Heritage Companies. This award honors businesses or organizations that have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to volunteerism. Heritage is a real estate development, management, and investment firm based here in Quincy.
Heritage has been a strong community partner of Interfaith’s for the past 7 years. Judy Kiley, a long-term volunteer and board member, helped to foster our relationship. Heritage’s example motivates other businesses and community groups to get involved and stay involved. They have supported us by providing much-needed event sponsorships for both our Feed the Hungry Gala and Stop the Stigma 5K every year. Since 2018, Heritage has donated $50,000!
In addition to the generous sponsorships, last year they began organizing and hosting the Heritage Golf Classic events. The golf events have been crucial community events and fundraisers for us. The 2024 and 2025 Golf Classics combined have raised nearly $200,000 to benefit our HomeSafe program.
“Support from The Heritage Companies has helped Interfaith cope with significant demands for our services,” said Daniels. “These donations have allowed us to purchase more healthy, fresh produce for our food pantry, have kept local families safe in their homes, and have provided mental health counseling sessions for those that would otherwise not been able to afford treatment. Their amazing contributions over the years have meant so much to us and their positive impact is immeasurable.”
Several employees from Heritage attended the volunteer appreciation event and accepted the award on its behalf.
Volunteers Wanted
Are YOU looking for volunteer opportunities? Weekly volunteer shifts are available in our Food Pantry and Thrift Shop.
- You have the time to commit to one 3-hour volunteer shift per week;
- 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
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