Profile of A Volunteer

My co-worker, Anne brings bread to work about three days a week. One of those days, the bread is to share with us, her work community. On the other days, Anne drops the home baked bread off with a friend or an acquaintance that is struggling with or celebrating life. Anne ministers with bread. You can taste love in her work. I cannot begin to estimate how many loaves of bread that have left Anne's kitchen. In baking, Anne celebrates life's high points, a new baby, a college graduation, a promotion at work and life's low points, a death, a divorce, a miscarriage.

Anne's bread is symbolic of her passion for connection and community. In times when so many of us write checks to organizations or volunteer to serve on boards, Anne's act of kindness seems so intimate in comparison. Anne's bread says I care. I care enough to bake, to deliver the bread, and to show up at your doorstep for a brief (or not so brief) visit. In it's simplicity, the bread heals. Anne is our school readiness facilitator in the district. One of her major responsibilities has been to assist immigrant families in navigating the school district. She takes her time to get to know each family and astonishingly remembers their names, names that take practice to master years later. When Anne sees an alumni family at school, so many of them thank her for her gift of bread to welcome them.

I know bank presidents who give large amounts of cash to programs but  never take the time to know anyone being served there. I know CEO's who donate to the food bank but never dine with folks who live in poverty. Anne's story resonates with me in a way that leaves me inspired to make real connections with people as I volunteer. Organizations that put real people in the path of folks who need them, like Big Brothers, Big Sisters, the Miller Mentoring Program, and Ready, Set, School are all local organizations that make a real impact with people power. Kindness is powerful, kindness matters.