Volunteer Spotlight: Linda Russell

April 24, 2017

April is Volunteer Appreciation Month! Throughout the month we will highlight the stories of volunteers who are committed to creating a community free of hunger!

Linda Russell has been volunteering at the Food Bank for just over a year now.

Four years ago she retired from Wilmington Trust. “After three years, I had done what I wanted to do, and I decided I would volunteer somewhere,” she explains.

Linda had a list of organizations that she was interested in volunteering her time. She says the Food Bank of Delaware was the first on her list of calls to inquire about volunteering.

She called Wes Chandler, Senior Volunteer Coordinator, and asked if the Food Bank needed someone to do clerical work. “He came back the very next day with a yes! It must have been meant to be,” she says.

Linda says she likes the people she works with at the Food Bank and feels like she is making a difference. Linda spends time doing clerical work for both the volunteer and accounting departments.

“I think that you have to find your own niche,” she advises. “You have to find what you really like to do.”

When she’s working in the volunteer room office, she is entering volunteers and their hours into a spreadsheet for both Newark and Milford. She assists with filing tasks in the accounting office.

“You have to figure out what is fun for you,” she says.

Food Bank staff can rely on Linda’s help once or twice a week, and she is always smiling!

“[Volunteering] gives you a purpose,” she points out. “Especially when you get older and retire and the grandchildren are pretty much grown now.”

To learn more about volunteering at the Food Bank of Delaware, please click here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *