If you have ever come to the Mid-North Food Pantry, you have met Dee Dee. This self-described people person is often the first face our neighbors see when they come to the food pantry. Dee Dee is most often responsible for greeting neighbors and handing out the blue tickets.
Several years ago, Dee Dee came with a friend to the pantry as he was in need of some supplemental food. Knowing his friend’s situation, he suggested she should shop for herself. Dee Dee is on disability for chronic arthritis. It was not too long after that first visit that Susan McMahon saw something in Dee Dee and asked her if she would like to volunteer. Dee Dee has been a regular volunteer for 3 years.
Dee Dee says she likes every aspect of volunteering at the pantry: greeting people, helping people through the pantry, talking to other volunteers. She loves her role here and often gives recipe suggestion to people about using certain, unusual items in the pantry. At the age of 6, Dee Dee’s mother invited her brothers and sisters into the kitchen to learn to cook. Her mother wanted the children to get involved with the meal planning and preparing. Dee Dee’s mother was also a woman with a big heart. Dee Dee and her siblings saw their mother reaching out by feeding the hungry, clothing people who needed an extra layer, giving folks a place to rest for a few hours, and just simply giving back to help anyone in need. Dee Dee has learned this lesson well. God and her church have supported her through her struggles and now it is her opportunity and desire to give back.
She loves to cook and crochet in her free time, and often shares her home baked goods in the volunteer break room. Dee Dee loves her hours at the pantry and sharing her time with her grand-daughter, Janiah.