John and Irene Jennings
It is my privilege to introduce you to a couple that have been involved in our program as volunteers for the last 7 years! Here is some of their life story in the own words."John was born in Philadelphia during the early years of the depression and is a first generation American. Irene hails from Boston and remembers the black out window shades being used during WWII. We met in Allenton, PA, where each of us was on temporary work assignments with different companies.
Our son lives in Chicago where he is a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) and is a partner in a major accounting firm. He travels a lot on his job and has been known to visit us on his return from a European business trip. His favorite hobby is ice hockey which he learned to play as a youngster on the frozen lakes of Maine where were fortunate to live for seven years.
We retired to Annapolis to be near our daughter who resides in Ellicott City in a blended family. She has blessed us with two energetic grandsons and the truth be known, we spend more time with them than volunteering for Food Link. She also worked as a CPA in the accounting field but she is now "retired" and is a full time mom to her 2 boys, plus one college coed and a handsome high school junior who can't wait to get his "wheels".
John retired from an executive position within the Federal government after a career spanning 45 years in which his work was his hobby! His many positions during that time enabled us to live in 6 different states all over the country. He has been retired now for 10 years during which he has been a golf ranger, has been active with the volunteer senior tax program in Annapolis, and has been delivering food with Food Link for almost 7 years. His favorite time of the year is the fall when he works at the Annapolis boat show as a security person. Like many retirees, he enjoys all these jobs which are totally different than the line of work he pursued while in the ranks of the Federal government.
Irene's main job is keeping John busy! Irene has always been involved in volunteering in addition to being an avid amateur classical musician. She still keeps in touch with her musical friends from the 6 states where we lived. Of course we spend as much time as possible with our 2 grandsons, ages 4 and 6. They love Annapolis, especially feeding the ducks at Ego Alley and trying out all the new flavors at the ice cream stores. Thanks to them we have discovered many wonderful parks and playgrounds in the Annapolis area. Other groups I have volunteered with include Habitat for Humanity and two arts groups in Annapolis. I also volunteer at my grandson's pre-school!
About seven years ago we read about Food Link looking for volunteers and thought it might be a way for us to help out in the Annapolis community. The best part of all these years with Food Link has been meeting the other wonderful volunteers, some even older than we are, and observing how they rarely missed a day volunteering at the food pantry. When we see them getting back on the job after major illness, surgery or whatever else our age bracket brings, we are truly inspired. We know that if "they can, we can."
We have driven by many churches in our area and through Food Link we discovered that a great many of them had food pantries. Some are limited efforts working out of just a small storage room while others are new with ample space, but all the pantries have energetic volunteers who want to make a difference in the lives of others."
John and Irene are an interesting, busy couple and the day they called to volunteer for Food Link was a very lucky day indeed. I have many volunteers but they are very special in so many ways. They are reliable, always being great ambassadors of our organization, making everyone they come in contact with feel comfortable. They always call their numbers in from their pickups! That may seem like a small thing but to me it is huge!!! They make my job easy and I appreciate all that they do. Thank you to you both John and Irene, you are special people doing important work in our community!