Tis the season for giving thanks, and Second Helpings would like to express our sincerest gratitude to one of the best volunteers in all of volunteer land, November 2019 Volunteer of the Month joyful Jane Fuqua. She’s one of those ladies who makes our world just a little bit brighter and once you get to know her, she will brighten your world too.
While reading the local paper one fall morning, Jane came across an article about Jennifer Vigran becoming CEO of Second Helpings. She was familiar with Jennifer and had been hearing a lot about our organization by another volunteer, Laraine Bush. In October 2012, she decided to see what all the fuss was about and joined our volunteer family. Seven years and over 700 volunteer hours later, she’s as dedicated as ever!
She was instantly impressed by our three-part mission of Food Rescue, Hunger Relief and Culinary Job Training. She appreciated the organization behind the volunteer program and quickly found her niche at the front desk. On occasion, she has helped deliver meals to partner agencies, as well as sort donated bread according to each agency’s needs. “I love people, so my favorite thing about the front desk is meeting everyone who passes through that area,” she says. “I also love contributing to the organization’s data flow by assisting with a variety of clerical tasks. Although that may sound funny, I’m a person who likes to understand the “why” of things, and the staff members are unfailingly generous about explaining why certain data must be entered in such a specific way and what information is being tracked.”
Jane says that the front desk can be a busy place and some of her proudest moments are when “I am able to fill the need of a guest by connecting them to the appropriate staff member. You just never know who’s going to walk through the door and what they might need.”
Outside of Second Helpings, some of you may know her as an award-winning knitter! For over 10 years she’s taught knitting classes at Village Yarn Company in Zionsville. Most notably, she’s won many blue ribbons at the Indiana State Fair over the years and this year she received Best of Show! In addition to her knitting talents, she enjoys volunteering with the No Serviceman Dies Alone program at Roudebush VA Hospital where she spends time with veterans in the palliative care ward.
Jane and her husband have three sons who are all embarking on new adventures of their own. In October, they welcomed their first grandchild and in 2020 they will be journeying to Bangkok to celebrate another son’s marriage. It sounds like those knitting needles are about to get an even bigger workout!
Thank goodness Jane enjoys reading the daily paper because we would be missing out on one truly fabulous lady if she had never read that article. Words cannot even begin to express how much we appreciate her passion for volunteering at the front desk and her dedication towards the mission of Second Helpings. We love you, Jane!
