August 2018 Volunteer of the Month: Michele Overy

Meet magnificent Michele! She’s been part of the Second Helpings volunteer family since 2014 and has contributed nearly 400 hours of her precious time to transforming lives through the power of food. That’s some feat when you consider the fact that she is a full-time mom with two children who require a chauffeur here, there and everywhere.

You will typically find Michele sorting bread every Tuesday afternoon. She is also our go-to trainer for new bread sorting volunteers because she has created such an efficient system for ensuring that all those varieties of bread are sorted for each agency’s specific needs. At times, bread sorting can be a pretty complex process, folks!

How did this lovely lady find out about Second Helpings? On the news. She heard a story and decided, “You know what? I think I want to check that place out!” She’d been in the market for a flexible volunteer gig for quite some time, so the ability to manage her own schedule was quite appealing. It was love at first sight when she sorted that first bag of beautiful, donated bread.

Her favorite part? The people! She says, “I really like the people at Second Helpings. Everyone is always friendly, and I have fun. It feels really good to know that I’m helping. Even though my part is small, it feels good to know that I am helping to provide a vital need for someone.” A small part?! We all know that there is no small part here at Second Helpings. Every single piece is necessary to meet our mission. Silly lady!

When she isn’t at Second Helpings she is shuttling her two children back and forth between school, extracurricular activities and the many other things that high school kids are up to these days. How in the world does she have a minute to spare? You might say, she needs to take some time for herself. The crazy thing is, this Super Woman reads 2-3 books per week! It’s one of her most favorite things to do and allows her mind to escape from all of the daily hustle and bustle.

So, to sum it all up, boy did we get lucky with that news story! Thank goodness Michele had some time to turn on the TV that day because otherwise we would’ve missed out. She is such a delightful lady and we are eternally grateful for her dedication to the mission of Second Helpings. Thank you, Michele for everything you do!