10/01/2026
🌟 VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT: DAN & JUDIE 🌟
Meet Dan and Judie - volunteers in the CES Food Market every Thursday. We’re so grateful for the care and commitment they bring to CES.
And yes, that’s our staff member Antuan in the photo with them. We promise he likes Dan and Judie. He’s just not the biggest fan of pictures! 😂
Judie, a retired pastor, first came to CES because she knew of our work through churches she had served. She says she tries to see Jesus in everyone who comes through our doors.
One recent experience reminded her just how many kinds of care happen at CES. A regular neighbor arrived after tripping over a curb and cutting his face when his glasses broke. Fortunately, another CES volunteer happened to be a retired doctor and was able to clean and bandage his wound and help him understand when he might need additional care.
As Judie put it, “God can meet many needs through the people who volunteer — food, a listening ear, maybe a few household items, and sometimes a healing touch!”
Dan began volunteering three years ago after Judie encouraged him to put his Spanish to work where it was needed. For Dan, volunteering is a spiritual discipline; something that isn’t always easy at first but becomes deeply rewarding with practice.
“Taking that first step is hard,” Dan says. “The first visits may stretch you, but the enjoyment will come with the habit of volunteering.” At CES we love this sentiment because, it's true, volunteering isn't always easy, but it is always rewarding.
For both Dan and Judie, volunteering is about meeting people who are different from them, listening to their stories, learning from one another, and doing a small, good thing.
We’re so grateful they keep showing up every Thursday and we hope their story inspires a few more people to take that first step, too. ❤️
