2025 Exemplary Service Award: Eva Neubeck
JFCS will host its 115th Annual Meeting from noon to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, at JFCS (5905 Golden Valley Rd, Golden Valley). At the event, we will present the 2025 JFCS Exemplary Service Award to dedicated volunteers Eva Neubeck, Paula Fields, and Sandy Baron. To RSVP for the Annual Meeting, click here! Below, Eva speaks about why she enjoys volunteering with JFCS.
How/why did you start volunteering with JFCS?
After my mother passed away in 2018, I thought about the things I did for her in her last year. I was fortunate to live 25 minutes from her, which made it easy. She had caregivers who were fantastic. That left me time to take her on drives, do her shopping, take her to appointments, and listen to her stories.
I thought about others who didn’t have a relative close by. I found JFCS and Garber Transportation and signed up to volunteer. Then the opportunity to be a home visitor was presented and I expanded my volunteering. I also have responded to other requests to volunteer to support the work of JFCS, as time permits.
What made you want to continue volunteering for the agency over the years?
I’ve kept doing this as a family tradition. In 1948, my dad moved to St. Paul to work for the JCC and then my brother did his conscientious objector service with Jewish Vocational Services from 1970-72.
As a retired social worker, this kind of volunteering comes pretty naturally to me. I believe it is how we can contribute to someone else’s quality of life. We are connected to one another.
What is your favorite part about it?
We all know that loneliness is all too often an emotion that seniors experience – and it shouldn’t be so. A phone call, a short drive or lunch out means the world to the people that I have met.
No longer being able to drive themselves has made their lives considerably more challenging. It pains me to think that some people don’t get to their doctor’s appointments or don’t talk to or see another person for days or weeks on end. My experience has been that they like to be asked questions and, for the most part, sharing comes easily to them. They tell me snippets of their interesting lives and always express gratitude for our time together.
For more information on JFCS Volunteer Services, click here or contact Dana Shapiro, Community and Volunteer Engagement Manager, at dshapiro@jfcsmpls.org. Click here for our spring volunteer-related updates.