Meet Laura Crooks! She has volunteered at DESC for about 10 years. During her tenure as Coordinator for Early Childhood Disabilities for Duval County Public Schools, she was invited to be the keynote speaker at the First International Early Childhood Conference of Dar es Salaam, East Africa. This gave her the opportunity to meet professionals from around the world who were interested in early childhood issues. What an amazing honor!
Why do you volunteer for DESC?
I love working at DESC, helping those in need and knowing that the people we serve will not go hungry.
What is your favorite part about volunteering?
My favorite part of volunteering is the interaction I have with the clients who come in for help. Sometimes I get to listen to their worries and many of them feel they need a nonjudgemental person to talk to. I love being able to give a little “something extra” like a book or a toy to the children who come in with their parents. I feel I am where God wants me to be right now in my life.
What has DESC done for you?
As a volunteer, I enjoy the fellowship of the dedicated workers who run DESC. I look at my volunteering at DESC as a mission…each time I interact with a client, I ask myself, “What would Jesus do in this situation?” As a volunteer, I have learned to be patient and loving with people that are hard to love. I think volunteering at DESC helps one see the “big picture” regarding giving back to the community. It is a humbling experience and I feel that volunteers gain an understanding of the vast need in our community for helping those less fortunate and in my own little way, I am helping do something to improve people’s situations. I have come to better understand that people don’t “choose poverty” as a lifestyle. As a volunteer, I have learned that DESC doesn’t just serve the “poor” who have no income but the working poor as well or people who are temporarily down on their luck due to circumstances beyond their control.
How can DESC benefit other volunteers?
DESC can benefit other volunteers by giving new recruits a warm welcome and providing a short overview of the operation (in the food distribution area, for example) and a kind of training in what is expected of the volunteer who works at the “intake” desk, or fills the food bags, etc. so that they know exactly what their “job description” is, for example, if you are filling food bags, talk about what goes in bags for 1, 2, 3, etc. member families.
What do you think is important for people to know about DESC?
What DESC’s mission is (the big picture), exactly what kinds of services we can provide and how people access those services and what other agencies DESC works with and/or can send clients to that will help them.
I think DESC does a good job of reaching out to the community and letting them know what services we offer. DESC already has handouts that help people connect to other services that I think are quite informative.
Tell me three words you would use to describe DESC?
Compassionate, caring, helpful.
Why are DESC’s services important?
DESC’s services are important because there is so much need in our community. It is one of the many nonprofits in our community that help the working poor, people on welfare and desperate for help of any kind, find services they need. DESC not only offers food to keep the body going, it offers hope to those who have just about given up or have given up trying to survive due to “circumstances beyond their control.” DESC uses it’s networking capabilities to show clients how to reach out and contact organizations that can help them in other facets of their lives.
What do you do on a day-to-day basis at DESC?
I volunteer on the Food Pantry side, answering the phone, working at the window doing intake of clients, fill food bags and any other thing that Jeff asks me to do. I work every 2nd and 4th Thursday and love what I do. At one time I volunteered at the Clothing Center and found that joy.
If you would like to volunteer with DESC and get to know other volunteers like Laura, please fill out this form.
