Editor’s note: Jill Fredel is a former employee of Delaware Online/The News Journal and is married to Brad Myers, a sports reporter for the publication. Fredel was submitted for this column by the Food Bank of Delaware.
No matter the weather, Jill Fredel can be found volunteering at the Food Bank of Delaware.
Sorting donations, packing meal boxes or making weekend and holiday meal kits for kids to take home through the Backpack Program, she does it all. Efforts she calls both a stress reliever and a good workout.
The food bank’s mission speaks to her so much that she wound up spending 228 hours there in 2024, making her one of the volunteers with the highest number of logged hours.
It might seem like a big commitment, but it’s Fredel’s way of practicing a message instilled in her at a young age.
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Growing up on a farm in Wisconsin, her family stressed that there’s enough food to go around for everyone and no one should face food insecurity.
“You see the vegetables and the cows and the chickens … the potential – and you don’t understand how anyone could go hungry,” Fredel said.
That mindset influenced her to help her neighbors through the Food Bank of Delaware for more than 20 years, while she was an editor at The News Journal and later at the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services before retiring in 2022. She even recruited her co-workers to volunteer.
Fredel is also heavily involved with atTack addiction and the Delaware Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Board.
Kim Turner, vice president of communications at the Food Bank of Delaware, has known Fredel since 2008 and describes her as a caring person who always lifts others up.
“She is always looking out for the most vulnerable among us. She is very warm and genuine, and when you come across her, you just know that she’s a good person,” said Turner. “She really makes that human connection with people, which I think is important because everybody wants to be seen and heard.”
Turner adds that Fredel is an inspiration to her for encouraging people to always do their best, no matter what it looks like. Even on stressful days or when life throws a curveball, Fredel reminds everyone to be grateful.
“She has a good heart, and you know she is in it for all the right reasons,” said Turner. “She just wants to see the best in everybody in our community.”
Fredel once heard former Gov. Jack Markell call Delaware “a state of neighbors,” and although her schedule is a busy one, she knows she’s just doing her part to help her community.
And as much as Fredel helps those in need, they’re providing something invaluable for her, too.
Her favorite way to help the Food Bank is through the Healthy Pantry Center, delivering grocery carts of food to drive-up clients and chatting with them. She even keeps her pockets stocked with two-packs of Oreos, eager to hand them out to children coming through.
Knowing how hard it is to ask for help, Fredel makes a point to wish a good day to everyone she encounters or leaves them with an encouraging message. Small sentiments that put a smile on their faces and might help them tackle whatever else is going on in their lives after they drive away.
“To get that immediate feedback from the client is just wonderful, and I think we change each other’s lives. They change my life,” she said. “I hope I am able to give a little bit back to them and maybe change their outlook for the day or the week.
“Gosh, I just don’t think there’s anything better to be able to do.”
More Random Acts of Kindness stories:‘She’s made my life better’: New Castle woman’s infectious generosity inspired by late dad
Got a good Samaritan story or random act of kindness to share? Contact Krys’tal Griffin at[email protected] to be featured in this recurring column.
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