by Leslie Feldman, Retreat Volunteer
Having recently retired from a career in the hospitality business, I hoped I would finally have the time to be able to give back to my community and to help those who have been less fortunate than myself.
Lucky enough to be raised in a household of privilege, my Mother always led by example and devoted a great deal of her time to charitable work and philanthropy. From a young age, she emphasized to me the importance of not what you had, but what you gave.
For many years, she and I would donate the holiday meal for a handful of Retreat families at either Thanksgiving or Christmas. It is with great fondness that I remember the trips to King Kullen, filling up shopping carts with whole turkeys with “all the fixings” and packing everything up for each family to be dropped off at the offices for distribution.
Now some 25 years later I am proud to be carrying on my Mother’s tradition of good works, as a volunteer for this wonderful organization, whose sole purpose is to help people in need, to regain their sense of self and identity and their foothold in society. I like to think I have an angel lending a hand.
