Monica Whelan has been volunteering with Contact House Community Food Bank in Forest for more than 30 years. What started as simply seeing a need in the community has turned into decades of helping others.
Contact House is a community food bank that provides food to anyone in the area who needs support. Monica says the food bank helps people both locally and from surrounding communities, making sure no one goes without when they need help.
For Monica, the best part of volunteering is getting to know people. She says the team has a lot of fun, laughs together, and builds strong connections with those they help. That sense of community is what keeps her coming back year after year.
Monica believes volunteers are essential. Without them, she says, much of the work that happens behind the scenes simply would not get done, and people would be left without support.
Her advice for anyone thinking about volunteering is simple: just try it. Find something you enjoy and give it a chance.
Monica says volunteering doesn’t feel like work to her. If you’re having fun and helping others, she believes it’s time well spent.
You can listen to the full interview with Monica here:
