One of our longest-serving and most-beloved volunteers, Jane Sposito, was featured in the December 30, 2021 edition of the El Defensor Chieftain. Chieftain reporter, Cathy Cook, included Jane in a feature story titled "How Can I Help?" Jane has been volunteering and working at Puerto Seguro for many years. We are fortunate to have her with us!
The original story can be found here. Here is the excerpt by Cathy Cook:
Adorned in a Santa hat, Jane Sposito greets people coming into Puerto Seguro. She keeps track of who is there and why—do they want to grab a shower, a meal, clean clothes.
Puerto Seguro-Safe Harbor Inc has been serving people experiencing homelessness and poverty since 2001. Visitors can access laundry, case management, a phone and once a month, free haircuts. Sposito has been volunteering there for almost a decade.
“I really enjoy being here. I have seen so much, with everything that’s going on especially the last couple of years. It seems like all I do is tell people, get your mask up, get your mask up, get your mask on,” she said.
Then she paused the interview to tell someone walking down the hall to wear their mask. When COVID first hit last year, no one was allowed inside and food had to be delivered to visitors through the window.
What Sposito likes best about volunteering at the day shelter are the people.
“I truly enjoy being here. I live alone and it gets me out of the house. It’s been the best therapy for me to be with other people. To me this is a ministry that God’s given me,” she said.
She can relate to the challenge of struggling financially.
“I have never been homeless, but I’ve been in a place where ‘Where’s my kid’s next meal coming from? Where’s their snowsuits for winter coming from?’”
Puerto Seguro is dependent on donations and reliable volunteers—people who can help in the kitchen, at the front desk and giving out hygiene supplies.