Called to Serve, Blessed to Learn

Lynn Jones spent 35 years as a teacher for Mount Healthy City Schools. Now in retirement, she’s the one doing the learning as a weekly volunteer in St. Francis Seraph Ministries’ Mother Teresa of Calcutta Dining Room.

“I’ve learned that people are more than their circumstances,” she says. “The people we serve have their struggles, but so do we. We can connect on a real soul level.

“There have been times when I look into their faces … I swear there have been moments when I think I’m looking at the face of God.”

Since 2008, Lynn has helped serve dinner every Friday, SFSM’s busiest day. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she volunteered three or four days a week. That experience was as beneficial to her as it was to those who picked up meals.

“That saved me, because I’m a people person,” she says. “For me to be isolated during Covid was very painful.”

Lynn’s “people person” nature is on full display every time she volunteers. She works the front of the dinner line, greeting each guest as they arrive. She gets to know the regulars and learns about their lives so everyone feels welcome, comfortable, and valued as an individual.

She also takes on a leadership role with new volunteers, drawing upon her experience as an educator to help newcomers fit into their roles and enjoy the experience as much as she does.

“I live by the motto that we are to love and be loved and that we are commissioned to be the hands and feet of Christ,” says Lynn, who lives in West Chester and belongs to the Blessed Trinity family of parishes. “There’s probably an intrinsic need for me to serve, because that’s when I feel the most fulfilled.”

Lynn has felt called to help the disadvantaged ever since she was a child. Teaching in Mount Healthy was as much a ministry as a career, she says. She believes that the people who have the least should get the very best. That’s what Lynn gave as a teacher, and it’s what she brings to SFSM now.

“Working as a team for the common good is something I’m really passionate about,” she says. “When I’m at SFSM, I feel purposeful. I feel like I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”