Volunteer Joan Forthofer is about as humble as they come. A reliable, enthusiastic, two-year veteran who works primarily as a meat chopper twice a week, Joan has little time for accolades, saying, “I’m not doing anything special – I’m just showing up and doing the best that I can.”
Joan says she’d been a fan of Second Helpings for a long time, and, when she moved downtown a few years back, decided it was time to volunteer. She came for her first shift on November 18, 2018, and has since accumulated more than 470 hours of service. While Joan has also chopped produce, made sandwiches and filled grab-and-go containers, you can usually find her on Monday and Friday mornings at the meat table, chopping or grinding cuts of protein or preparing trays of chicken or bacon for the ovens. Her hard work has helped contribute to countless meals made in the tilt skillets, as each recipe contains 75 pounds of protein.
When asked what she enjoys most about volunteering, Joan offers another practical, no-nonsense reply: “People need to eat – and I love that Second Helpings feeds people while rescuing food and training other people.”
In her spare time, Joan has made an inviting outdoor space for her neighborhood birds and enjoys watching them at eight feeders and a bird bath in her yard. She also has fun working puzzles and making dolls.
Thank you, Joan, you for making other volunteers feel welcome, for proactively looking at the calendar for days when we need additional help, and for being such a reliable and hard-working force in the kitchen. We appreciate you so much!