Volunteers at the Winn Community Food Pantry have stayed really busy this past month, helping out a larger than usual number of families, giving a little extra help to put food on the table.

But they were not too busy to take some extra time to pause on their Thursday workday April 24, to say “Thanks” to one of their most stalwart workers, Jane Purser, who has been involved with this community support program since its inception centered at First Presbyterian Church.

Each Thursday, volunteers begin handing out bags of groceries to the many who are signed up and who arrive at the church to receive their monthly allocation.  So on April 24, the volunteers came early, arriving at 11:30 with homemade food in-hand to lay out an honor luncheon for Mrs. Purser.

They noted that she is not just a pillar of support at the Food Pantry but an individual who has been involved in many aspects of the community.  She is an elder at First Presbyterian Church.  A retired educator (and even a one-time School Board member), she continues to have a passion for adult literacy and took her skills to inmates at Winn Correctional and also individuals who came to classes at the church.

She has been instrumental in a “Tuesday School” program, launched at First Presbyterian and now expanded to First Assembly.  She’s a longtime member of the Rotary Club of Winn where she served as president and was a key figure in the startup of Mardi Gras in Winnfield through the Krewe of Kingfish.