Greenbelt Live has succeeded wildly at one of its primary goal –  as a way for me to meet Greenbelters, especially the more active ones who have an impact.  And looking into the volunteer program GIVES led to my spending some time with one of the city’s top volunteers, a previous winner of Citizen of the Year Award – Jean Cook.

Besides her duties as wife, mother, grandmother and GIVES volunteer, what else Jean does bowled me over.  This past summer she led her second trip for the Habitat for Humanity group at St. Camillus Church, this one to Trinidad and Tobago.  She had mentioned the fact that she’s 71 years old, so I naively asked what kind of work she managed to actually perform while she was there and the answer was:  “What everyone else did.”  Indeed, the proof is in these photos.   In addition to the trips she’s led, Jean’s been part of a dozen other Habitat trips, all hard work but very rewarding.

Jean tells me that she chose her church, St. Camillus for its social activism and its diverse membership – about half Latino.  And the pastor there has his own blog and check out the name – Reflections of a Franciscan Gardener!  Love that.

Back in Greenbelt, Jean’s duties include directing the Combined Choir, a job she’s performed for 40 years, since ’72.  The group of about 30 performs at a Thanksgiving Eve interdenominational service, at Christmas, and other occasions, like the Roosevelt talk last September.  Click here to see the  Choir and Jean at the baton on the Greenbelt 2012 blog.