Volunteer Spotlight: Anne Patterson Found a Passion for Fighting Hunger in Retirement

Anne has given nearly 450 hours to North Texas Food Bank.

When Anne Patterson began volunteering at the North Texas Food Bank’s Perot Family Campus, half of the production floor was occupied by National Guard troops.

She signed up for her first pack and box shift in December 2020, and when she retired from teaching in May, she began regularly registering for shifts.

“I wanted to stay active and I’m a big believer in volunteerism,” she says. “It was important for me to do something that I felt was giving back to the community.”

She’d volunteered years before along with fellow teachers at NTFB’s previous home on Cockrell Hill (now the Pollock Campus that houses Crossroads Community Services) and decided to give it a try on her own. Along with staff, the National Guard had sustained NTFB’s pack-and-box operation during the height of COVID when volunteers were at home. Anne was part of the first group of community volunteers who returned during the pandemic.

“Food insecurity wasn’t a cause I’d always thought of, but after seeing the need that exists, I wanted to continue helping,” she says. Since 2020, Anne has given nearly 450 hours to NTFB.

Volunteer Specialists Elizabeth Campo and Riley Mainord say Anne is willing to take on any role to support NTFB, whether leading during a pack and box shift, stepping in during a special event or taking on a side project that comes up unexpectedly.

“Riley and I don’t know the North Texas Food Bank without Anne,” says Elizabeth. “She is a rockstar volunteer. She always raises her hand to fill a need, no matter what the need is.”

When she’s not traveling, Anne typically volunteers twice a week at NTFB. Along with making an impact, Anne says she enjoys that it keeps her active and that the shift is always run efficiently and effectively. She adds that she’s also made friends she enjoys catching up with while working.

“For someone retired, particularly if you had a network before, to suddenly have another network in retirement was an added plus that I wasn’t expecting,” she says.