A birthday celebration was held at St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry for longtime and revered volunteer Dorothy Gouin who turned 95 on March 26.
Every Friday when the Bonne Terre food pantry, located at St. Joseph Catholic Church, is open, Gouin fills up “cold bags,” or plastic bags with goods like ground beef, pork, steak and other frozen products.
In between her working time, she likes to do puzzles like Sudoku or different types of Solitaire.
Gouin volunteers in other places, and is busy almost every day of the week.
“I also volunteer at St. Joe Manor and the [Bonne Terre Senior] nutritional center,” Gouin said. “I do office work at the nutrition center, and help deliver the newsletter to residents from St. Joe Manor.”
Gouin credited her office training to Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp (WAAC) where for four years she served during and after World War II.
“I signed up when I was 20,” she said.
WAAC was the first group that allowed women to serve in the Army outside of a nurse position. During World War II, about 150,000 women served in it.
Nowadays, Gouin enjoys staying busy.
“It keeps me from being alone,” said Gouin. “I just enjoy doing it.”
Every week, 15-20 volunteers consistently meet to help bag and hand out food pantry donations.
“We’ve got a lot of wonderful volunteers, but she’s been here for about 20 years,” Bonne Terre Food Pantry President Michaelle Clark estimated.
“Some of us see her as a legend in this town,” said volunteer Al Luebbers.
Last week, the volunteers were helped out by students from the Sunrise School District FCCLA, who volunteered to package bags as part of a program. The original volunteers were able to eat cake and celebrate Gouin’s birthday.
The Bonne Terre Food Pantry serves 225-250 families a month by giving out bagged food or vouchers that are donated from a variety of places like USDA, Panera Bread, or Farmington High School. They are one of the local food pantries that will benefit from the April 13 Feed My Sheep Bake Sale at First Baptist Church of Desloge.
Inquirers about the food pantry can call East Missouri Action Agency (EMAA) at 573-431-0103. They are open on Monday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
