It is with great pleasure and joy that I present to you Second Helpings’ August Volunteer of the Month, Margie Gutierrez!

Margie has been an extraordinary volunteer for Second Helpings, often doing double shifts. She is a master tilt operator, cooking up delicious dishes for our community partners. We appreciate Margie, for her time and talents, and are so grateful she chose Second Helpings!

Learn a little more about Margie in her own words below.

I recently retired from 40 years of nursing, downsized, and decided to split my time between Oregon and Indiana where my children live. After coming to Indy in 2018, I was looking for a fun volunteer job and read about Second Helpings in a magazine, called up, and showed up the next day. I think I’ve worked all areas as a “floater,” but working the tilt, and also as a driver companion, are my favorites.

What struck me right away is how much the volunteers are appreciated! Also, that this place is run like a well-oiled machine, and I feel very proud to be part of a group that really makes a difference to the citizens of Indy, and at the same time have so much fun. Most of my volunteer work has been nursing-related over the past several decades, so cooking for 600 people at a time has been something new to learn for me.

When not at Second Helpings, I hike every day, bake bread, attend live music when I can, and travel. I am about to take my second cross-country trip with one of my kids. I am pretty much an open book so not many surprises, but maybe one surprise is I never did volunteer training – I just dove in that first day!