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Volunteerism: A ‘labor of love’ for Barbara Turner

For the past 25 years, Barbara Turner has donated her time, energy, and resources to ending hunger in Middle Tennessee

Barbara Turner

What started as a simple way to get involved at her children’s school quickly turned into a passion for Barbara Turner.

Barbara’s children all collected food for elementary school food drives. The collected food was donated to Second Harvest, where Barbara’s family often went to help deliver the donations.

As her commitment to ending hunger grew, Barbara and her husband, Rick, became more involved at Second Harvest as volunteers and as donors.

Barbara did everything from stuffing food packs for the Backpack Program to organizing fundraising events. Barbara served for six years on Second Harvest’s board of directors, rising to serve as board chair.

More than 25 years after that first school food drive, Barbara and Rick continue to be indispensable members of the Second Harvest family.

“It’s an honor to be involved”

“Everybody has their passion and one of my main ones is feeding our hungry neighbors,” Barbara says. “It’s been a labor of love.”

The fact that hunger affects every demographic is one of the main reasons why Barbara chooses to continue volunteering with Second Harvest.

“It boggles my mind, the neighbors that struggle with (hunger) daily, weekly, monthly, making a choice on what bills to pay,” she says.

Barbara is optimistic and excited about all the ways — old and new — that the food bank serves
communities across Middle Tennessee. She hopes to volunteer her time soon with the new Produce Truck, which is basically a farmers’ market on wheels that goes to low-income neighborhoods.

“It’s an honor to be involved with Second Harvest,” she says.

Thank you, Barbara, for your longstanding commitment to making sure hungry Tennesseans have access to nutritious food. Your compassion on behalf of your community is truly inspiring.

Sign up for a volunteer shift to join Barbara in the fight against hunger! 

 

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