Volunteer Spotlight - Seventh Day Advent Church

As we close out National Volunteer Month, we want to celebrate and recognize one more group of volunteers who’s making an impact on individuals facing hunger and homelessness. The Council Bluffs Seventh-Day Advent Church has been serving dinner on the 4th and 5th Saturdays of each month since 2022. That’s 44 Saturdays in case anyone’s counting! And this team certainly is NOT counting, as they consider it pure joy to be able to serve their neighbors.  “We want to be the hands and feet of Jesus,” says Shannon Pigsley, who coordinates volunteer and service efforts for the church.

The church brings more volunteers than are needed in the kitchen, but the volunteers come to do more than serve food. “We’ll have 4-5 people serving food,” says Shannon, “and the rest of us just mingle out in the dining hall. We probably have another 5-8 church members who just talk and engage with the guests, we’ll pick up their trays or bring them a glass of water, or sometimes we offer to pray with them. We want to make them feel special.” And the group certainly accomplishes that. In addition to serving, the group often brings small gifts, hygiene items, and other things that help encourage our guests.

The group is all about “small acts of kindness,” but those small acts are huge for our guests. “We know we can’t solve homelessness,” says Shannon, “but kindness and hope are things we CAN give.” Shannon coaches and trains her group on how to relate to our guests, to see them as human, and to understand that homelessness can happen to anyone. Alyssa and Michelle, two volunteers who serve with the group, say that volunteering at New Visions has become a treasured time for them. “I was intimidated at first,” says Alyssa, “but once you jump in, it’s really an amazing thing to be a part of.” We’re grateful for times like National Volunteer Month, when we can take a moment to give thanks to groups like the Council Bluffs Seventh-Day Advent Church and our 1400 volunteers annually who are committed to making a difference in the lives of our neighbors facing hunger and homelessness.