Three days a week, Dean Durham, or Miss Dean, is picked up for her volunteer duties at the Love and Care Ministries.
"I make up the sack lunches. Cookies, chips, sandwiches, I put them in these bags," Miss Dean explained.
Known as the "Bag Lady," Miss Dean has been there for 14 out of the Mission's 17 years. And everyone in the kitchen stops to say hello to the regular volunteer who is always filled with joy.
"She's always happy. She's always wanting to be here," Mark Hewitt, founder and director of Love and Care.
In fact, she's so well known, that she's considered a pro.
"I feel honored to be the professional bag lady of Love and Care Ministries," said Miss Dean.
She knows the job like the back of her hand, because she has to. Miss Dean is legally blind, so she relies on touch and feel to do her job.
"It isn't difficult," she said. "You don't have to see to put four cookies in a bag. Or to put a handful of chips in a bag. You don't have to see to do that."
And it's not just her job that she knows by heart.
"Over time, as she got to knowing the building, she would get up from her little table, if she needed a bag of chips or a bag of cookies or something and she would just walk to that area and get it without her stick," said Mark.
Not only has she learned how to bag lunches like a pro.
"I made 20 sandwiches a day. Now, it's 200," Miss Dean said.
She's been able to see the ministry go from serving a dozen people a day to close to a thousand people in one day.
"I come over here every week, and wondering what walls will Mark knock out this week," Miss Dean said. "What the lords going to do, how many more people is He going to send us this week to feed."
And plans on a few more years of carrying out her duties as the "Professional Bag Lady."
"If the lord lets me live to be 90, and [Mark] doesn't fire me, I'm going to be here on my 90th birthday," said Miss Dean.
"I make up the sack lunches. Cookies, chips, sandwiches, I put them in these bags," Miss Dean explained.
Known as the "Bag Lady," Miss Dean has been there for 14 out of the Mission's 17 years. And everyone in the kitchen stops to say hello to the regular volunteer who is always filled with joy.
"She's always happy. She's always wanting to be here," Mark Hewitt, founder and director of Love and Care.
In fact, she's so well known, that she's considered a pro.
"I feel honored to be the professional bag lady of Love and Care Ministries," said Miss Dean.
She knows the job like the back of her hand, because she has to. Miss Dean is legally blind, so she relies on touch and feel to do her job.
"It isn't difficult," she said. "You don't have to see to put four cookies in a bag. Or to put a handful of chips in a bag. You don't have to see to do that."
And it's not just her job that she knows by heart.
"Over time, as she got to knowing the building, she would get up from her little table, if she needed a bag of chips or a bag of cookies or something and she would just walk to that area and get it without her stick," said Mark.
Not only has she learned how to bag lunches like a pro.
"I made 20 sandwiches a day. Now, it's 200," Miss Dean said.
She's been able to see the ministry go from serving a dozen people a day to close to a thousand people in one day.
"I come over here every week, and wondering what walls will Mark knock out this week," Miss Dean said. "What the lords going to do, how many more people is He going to send us this week to feed."
And plans on a few more years of carrying out her duties as the "Professional Bag Lady."
"If the lord lets me live to be 90, and [Mark] doesn't fire me, I'm going to be here on my 90th birthday," said Miss Dean.
