Kathy and Bill Gibson Story
Rooted in a love of God and neighbor without distinction, the Sisters of Saint Joseph Neighborhood Center fosters a sense of community, uniting neighbor to neighbor and neighborhood to neighborhood, in the Cramer Hill section of Camden, NJ, and beyond by providing opportunities for connection, enrichment, and empowerment. Every day the Neighborhood Center relies on the time and talent of many volunteers to make our mission a reality. Kathy and Bill Gibson are two of those volunteers who give up their time every month to help with our Food Pantry.
Q: What is your volunteer role and how long have you been volunteering for SSJ Neighborhood Center?
Kathy: I have been volunteering at the Neighborhood Center for 3+ years. I work as a volunteer on Food Pantry days, unloading, coordinating, and packing the food bags for our clients. I also coordinate with my local parish in Central NJ in their support of the Center through various clothing and personal care/baby drives throughout the year.
Bill: I have been volunteering at the Neighborhood Center for 3+ years. My initial volunteer efforts were centered around repairing, cleaning, and improving the Center’s physical space so that it better met the needs of the clients and staff. Over the past 2+ years, I volunteer on Food Pantry days, unloading, coordinating, and packing the food bags for our clients.
Q: In your own words, can you capture the mission of the SSJ Neighborhood Center?
Kathy: The mission of the Neighborhood Center revolves around helping our dear neighbors, that person we next meet. We are all in need and God places us here so we can help each other out.
Bill: The mission of the Neighborhood Center is to be Christ for those on the margins, providing them with needed assistance and skills while preserving and enhancing their inherent dignity. About 20 years ago when I helped lead a youth group service trip into a poorer section of a city, we stated our mission in a way that was brief but so apt for what we felt we were called to do – ”OUR hands doing HIS work.” That’s exactly how I feel about the work of the Center.
Q:Why did you decide to volunteer?
Kathy & Bill: We began when our daughter took her vows as a Sister of Saint Joseph. We didn’t realize that those vows of service also applied to her family!
While we first began to volunteer on an “as needed” basis when our daughter was first helping to get the Center up and running, we started volunteering regularly once the pandemic started, and we realized that committed volunteers were needed on a monthly basis.
We’ve both always been active in our local parish ministries. However, as we learned more about the Neighborhood Center’s outreach programs, we knew that the Holy Spirit was calling us to share our gifts and talents with this new set of marginalized neighbors. While these neighbors are located a good 1.5 hours from our home, they quickly became people we felt intimately connected with.
Q: What is your favorite part of volunteering?
Kathy: I meet and work with wonderful people. I feel a part of something worthwhile. I see the face of Jesus in each of the neighbors I am serving.
Bill: On a personal note, I really appreciate the volunteer community that has developed; it’s something that I need on an ongoing basis, and which has become less available in my local parish. My time volunteering is not work, but a type of meditation. I find myself joined with others as we serve in Christ’s name. I’m able to reflect on the gifts God has given me. I pray for each family that will receive the bag of food that we are packing. I come away knowing that this is how God is serving others through me. While I go home feeling physically tired and sore, I go home having been fed spiritually.
Q: Do you have a favorite memory of your time volunteering?
Kathy: There is one memory that stands out for me. One very cold day a little boy aged 5 or 6 came to the Center with his mom. He was standing in line without a coat to wear. I have two grandsons so I know how forgetful boys can be at that age. We were able to invite him into the Center, took him downstairs, where he was able to pick out a new warm coat to wear. Besides the joy on his face, the way in which we were able to meet his needs by welcoming him and providing something needed, without compromising either his or his family’s dignity, made me appreciate the positive difference this volunteer community can make.
Bill: There are months when we leave the Neighborhood Center and the Food Pantry is like Mother Hubbard’s cupboard, totally bare. And yet when we show up the next month, the shelves are overflowing because of the generosity of Scouts, parishes and individuals. On a local basis, it’s the Gospel feeding of the multitude with five loaves and two fish come to life.
Q:Why is it important for you to volunteer?
Kathy: As a retired person in reasonably good health, it’s important for me to share those gifts by putting my faith into action. Through this ministry, I see Christ in my fellow volunteers and the neighbors that we serve. It makes Jesus real for me.
Bill: Growing up, service was something that was an integral part of my family’s life. It’s part of who I am. Over the past decade or so, I’ve become more aware of those at the margins and have felt the Holy Spirit calling me to reach out in welcome to them. The Neighborhood Center is a tangible way for me to live out my faith and to be with other children of God.
Q: Why would you tell other people to volunteer for the SSJ Neighborhood Center?
Kathy: I have so much admiration and respect for the Sisters of Saint Joseph and the staff at the Neighborhood Center. The Holy Spirit has inspired something exciting and fulfilling to happen here. God smiles down on this community where everyone is valued and welcomed. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?
Bill: It’s one thing to have faith. It’s another thing to put that faith into action. Volunteering at the Center is a way to honor your baptismal promises. Jesus always reached out the those on the margins and restored them with honor and dignity back into the community they were separated from. Volunteering at the Center is one way for us to be Jesus for someone at the margins.
