Every month we will feature MUST Shepherds who are helping serve your neighbors in need through their gifts of time, talent and treasure.
How did you get connected to MUST?
My first job at my church, First United Methodist Church, was to head up local missions. The MUST board at the time had about three or four pastors and they needed someone with a background in pension planning. I was it. I became board secretary in 1995/96.
What is it about MUST that keeps you coming back?
My mom tells me I used to come home from school and feel bad about kids who didn-™t have what I did, and we were your average middle class family. I think I was just born with this giving spirit. I-™ve always wanted to give back.
I truly believe MUST has been a gift for me and has given me more than I have given it. It has made me stretch. Through my work on the board, I have matured both personally and professionally. Everyone at MUST values what I do for them. I feel like I can help make a difference and I-™m seen as making a difference. I think volunteering and giving go hand in hand. It doesn-™t just mean writing a check.
Why do you give monthly?
I believe I was recruited into the MUST monthly giving program at one of our many board meetings. From the very beginning, it just made a lot of sense to me to participate. I just assumed all board members were part of the monthly giving group. Why wouldn-™t you be? Every time I serve at my church in Sunday school, or the dinners we serve at the community kitchen on the Elizabeth Inn campus, people are so appreciative of what we do. It really is a privilege to do it. That-™s really what it-™s all about; we don-™t get these opportunities to have an impact in a life enough.