June Jefferson Award winner: Jane Quaintance

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – Jane Quaintance has been volunteering nearly since the Jeremiah Program began in Rochester.

The organization will celebrate two years in its new building off 19th St. NW in Rochester next month.

But when you walk inside on a Thursday, everyone knows Jane and the work she does for the organization.

“She has relationships with all the families that are here on campus. She knows them and they know her,” said Executive Director Ally Hanten Ebert. “She can be another positive person that our families interact with on a daily basis.”

The organization’s goal is to end generational poverty two generations at a time by providing stable housing for single mothers and their kids while also promoting education. The Jeremiah Program helps the moms attend college and the kids become kindergarten ready through the child development center.

“There’s a saying that the most successful and happy retirees don’t just retire from something but retire to something,” Jane said.

“I had been putting a lot of thought and prayer into that and just kept feeling that God’s got something else for me to do,” she said.

Jane spends a full day every Thursday volunteering from helping with mailing to helping with the families.

“Every day before I come here I pray ‘God, use me in however you see fit’ and every week when I go home I’m like ‘Yep, still being called here. Still have a purpose here,’” Jane said.

This is why Jane said she feels she gets more out of it than she gives because of how she’s able to walk alongside the families.

To learn more about the Jeremiah Program in Rochester, click here.

If you know someone who is multiplying good in the community and is deserving of a Jefferson Award, you can nominate them here.

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