Fairfax City Family Honored with Volunteer Service Award

The Jenkins Family of Fairfax City was honored last week with Volunteer Fairfax's 2013 Fairfax County Volunteer Service Award.

The longtime local residents won in the family category for their service to Our Daily Bread.

Diane Jenkins works for Fairfax County’s Housing Department, and Dave Jenkins retired from there after many years of service. Their son Marshall is attending community college in the area.

"They all help us in various capacities at various times when they can and when we call on them," said Heather Webb, Our Daily Bread's communications manager. "Dave is our most frequent volunteer, calling our Food Bridge clients each week to let them know when to expect a food delivery or gift cards when they are due to receive food."

Webb said, the Jenkins have also been very active in the St. Vincent De Paul Society associated with St. Leo the Great in Fairfax City.

All in all, Webb said the Jenkins logged a whopping 224 hours of volunteer service for Our Daily Bread last year, and a total of 435 hours over the past three years.

The Jenkins were nominated for the award by Christina Garris, Our Daily Bread's food manager and volunteer coordinator, who said, 

“Our Daily Bread is so grateful to the Jenkins family for dedicating their time and energy to helping us and the families we serve in every capacity they have been able to over the last three years.

Through their careers in social services and their ongoing work in the community, Dave and Diane have truly devoted their lives to helping others, and they have shared that love of service with their son Marshall.

Their work on behalf of Our Daily Bread has provided piece of mind to countless families who are struggling to make ends meet. Diane and Dave have spent many hours talking to our clients – finding out information about them that helps us better serve the clients, and helping our clients feel that they are understood, that their voices are being heard, and helping them feel reassured that they will be okay.

We are so glad that they found us. It is hard for us to remember what we did before they came into our lives. We truly don’t know what we would do without the Jenkins family!”

A nonprofit organization, Our Daily Bread identifies and addresses the unmet fundamental needs of Fairfax area residents and helps empower the community to help our neighbors maintain self-sufficiency.

Our Daily Bread is a volunteer-based organization focused on easing the plight of low-income residents in Fairfax County. The organization draw volunteers from local faith-based groups, community organizations, local businesses, schools and universities.

Do you know the Jenkins? Do you know someone who has benefited from the work of Our Daily Bread? Tell us in the comments.

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