FOR A GOOD CAUSE -- Judy David

-- Story by Deepa Bharath; photo by [tk]

Three years ago, Judy David had nothing to do on Thanksgiving Day.

So the 56-year-old Newport Beach resident decided to volunteer at the

Someone Cares soup kitchen in Costa Mesa.

Ever since, she hasn’t stopped volunteering there.

David and her husband, Anthony, are at the soup kitchen every Monday,

helping to prepare the food and washing dishes. David herself is there on

all holidays when the soup kitchen could do with some extra help --

Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

For her, volunteering is not about “just giving.”

“You get so much in return,” David said. “It’s so much fun helping

people.”

David said people who come to the soup kitchen on Thanksgiving are not

necessarily homeless people.

“They are just people who work and work hard, but can’t make ends

meet,” she said. “They are wonderful people who are very grateful for

what they get.”

On regular days, she does anything from helping stir a crock of soup

to whipping up some macaroni and cheese.

“If there’s nothing else to do, I help by doing the dishes,” she said.

David, who retired about a year ago from work at a sales office, also

volunteers at the Human Options shelter for battered children once a

week. After the Sept. 11 attacks, she has also started training with the

American Red Cross to help with disaster relief.

Volunteering is a way to “share what you have with others,” she said.

“I feel like I have been blessed with a lot,” David said. “There is a

lot of joy and satisfaction in being able to help someone, to be able to

give your time to help someone.”

For how long does she plan to come back to the soup kitchen?

“Every year [so long as] it’s here.”