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Volunteer Spotlight: Marie Sharpe

As we geared up for this month’s annual Dress Down Hunger Event, we met with our amazing events volunteer, Marie Sharpe. Marie has volunteered for countless events over the years, putting in some long days to make sure our celebrations run smoothly. She believes deeply in the mission of Food Lifeline to make an impact on hunger and loves that Food Lifeline makes big goals and works in so many different capacities to end hunger. She also says that volunteering is just fun–from creating beautiful gathering spaces, to building relationships with staff and volunteers, to being part of the magic of a big event. We’re so grateful to Marie for her commitment to our mission, and for supporting our celebrations in such a big way.

Marie was introduced to Food Lifeline in 2008, when she started working at a law firm that participated in Food Frenzy. Within a few years, the person that had been their Food Frenzy Coordinator at the firm left, and Marie and another person took over managing the competition. She’s been helping to manage it all the way through 2023.

The first two people Marie met from Food Lifeline were energized, high-spirited, and really invested in their work. “You could tell how much they really loved it and that was just kind of contagious,” said Marie. “I loved the way I felt helping to raise money for an organization that clearly had great values, great leadership, and basically I was all in right from the get-go.”

And she was all in. She’s volunteered with Dress Down Hunger every year since 2013, and Savor every year since 2014. She’s also helped with the Kick Hunger Poker Tournament, Bite of Seattle, Stamp Out Hunger, and many other events. She also worked at food donation pick ups during Covid, and had done sort and repack sessions in the warehouse.

She enjoys the “alldayness” of the events – being able to work closely with volunteers and staff all day, seeing the space transform, and then seeing everyone celebrating at the event, and being part of the bigger mission to end hunger. She’s done everything from setting up the space, laying out auction items, and arranging flowers, to setting up games and helping with registration and check out. She’s been doing this so long, she’s sometimes asked to lead other volunteers in the preparations, which she says pushes her just a little out of her comfort zone, exposing her to new roles and tasks and making her realize she can do more than she thought.

“It’s super rewarding to watch it all come together and be successful,” says Marie. “And I’ve seen how much goes into it and I know how much effort all the staff put in… I enjoy it every time.”

“It’s rewarding to do, and then it’s equally rewarding to be acknowledged for it and to be thanked. And then the people at Food Lifeline work so hard that I just want to make myself available to help them as much as I can, because the mission is so important…There are also things that Food Lifeline started really focusing on over the past three to four years that are really interesting to me, like providing culturally appropriate food. And trying to really focus on communities that are struggling, the elderly, it’s a big deal to me to make sure that the elderly get the food that they need.”

Her passion to keep Food Lifeline’s mission moving forward keeps her coming back.

“Even though the need has grown and grown, so has Food Lifeline’s capability and it’s really impressive. So I’m always excited to help volunteer to keep that mission going forward,” says Marie.

“I’ve been very blessed to not ever have had to worry about where my next meal is going to come from, but I know that that that’s a blessing and that there are too many people, too many elderly people, too many families, too many children that aren’t in that position, and I want to use the fact that I have the time and the energy and the motivation to just give of myself the way that I can—to give my time to help.”

“I’ve never left a volunteer opportunity thinking it was a waste of time- ever, which is huge,” says Marie. “I always feel like my effort was worthwhile and even if we don’t reach our goal there’s still so much positivity about what they’re going be able to do with what they did raise. And I love the fact that Food Lifeline sets big goals, right? You have to aim really high in order to make an impact I think and Food Lifeline’s very good at that. It’s rewarding.”

She says her longstanding commitment to Food Lifeline really comes back to how volunteering maker her feel.

“The feeling I get it makes me feel like I’m doing something valuable and worthwhile and giving back to my community. And especially knowing that Food Lifeline is part of a much bigger organization. But the reach it has here in the state that I was born and raised in is just phenomenal to me—what it is able to do and the fact that I can help support that mission is rewarding.”

One of her favorite celebration memories includes a “Forest in a Cup” dessert at Savor. “It was a little glass and it had a burnt butterscotch pudding as its base, and then the chef had made little marzipan logs and mushrooms and used some green edible thing that made it look like moss…It was very special.”

She also enjoyed working with the “Chef in the Hat” Thierry Rautureau. “He was always such a huge support supporter for Food Lifeline,” she says. “It was really special interacting with him at Food Frenzy Kickoff parties and Savor.”

She talks about Food Lifeline to friends and family to encourage others to consider volunteering as well. “I’m all in on Food Lifeline,” says Marie. “The goal and the mission is important and has always been important.”

Her advice to anyone thinking about volunteering? Look at all the various volunteer opportunities and talk to the Volunteer Coordinators to find out more. She says that helping with events appealed to her since she could participate without having to miss work, and adds that there are so many opportunities to volunteer in different capacities and different times. “I don’t know if people know how much variety there is. There are tons of different opportunities for volunteering at Food Lifeline.”

To see the variety of volunteer opportunities available, check out our Volunteer Page.