Working at Mary’s Table, “is almost like a dance,” volunteer chef Jeanne Krikawa says. “You have your team and you work with them. And you work around them. And you figure out what everybody needs. You just have this groove.”
Jeanne goes in at 1 in the afternoon and helps clear away lunch. Then, she and her team start prepping for dinner. “We’re cleaning, we’re slicing, we’re cooking,” Jeanne says. “One day it’s enchiladas. Another day, another menu. One day, we made chicken pot pie and a fellow volunteer from the Coast Guard who decided he loves to make pastry and bake. It’s always different.”
Except for the pace. That’s always fast. “And that’s what I love.”
She calls herself a “chronic volunteer.” In fact, before she moved in July to Petaluma from Seattle, her friends warned her not to jump into anything too quickly. They’d seen her give her all to the Seattle Planning Commission and to Girls on the Run. But, growing up, her Dad showed her that no schedule is too full for volunteering. “He gave and he gave,” Jeanne says. “And he did it while raising ten kids.”
Jeanne’s an architect and a consultant on planning for light rail station areas. Early on in her career, she helped design and remodel affordable housing and shelters. Naturally, when she moved to Petaluma, she and her husband took a tour of COTS.
They loved it, and soon Jeanne signed on for Saturdays. Chronic volunteer that she is, she also started helping kids in after school Homework Club through Mentor Me. That’s on top of the work she does with rescue farm animals at Goatlandia.
Her COTS work is on hold during shelter in place. And she’s eager to get back soon.
“I love the whole process: cooking, setting up, serving. I love that you never know who you’re working with until you start talking. It could be another volunteer like me or it could be a resident. It’s a great equalizer. We’re all trying get the same thing accomplished.”
“It blows my mind that we can pull it off every week. The meals are amazing.”
She sees Mary’s Table as a great resource. And not just for food. “Anyone can come in and get a great meal and enjoy a little conversation, a little socializing,” she says. “There’s a huge respect for the guests.”
If you’re thinking about volunteering: “Absolutely do it,” Jeanne says. “You get so much more out of it than you can imagine. When I leave, I’m tired but energized.”
Thank you, Jeanne!
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