If Mary Jo Burke had her way, a few friends of hers “with big checkbooks” would underwrite the good work being done at Sister Visitor Center. The problem with that wish, Mary Jo says with a laugh, is that “I don’t know any big, influential people.”

Still, that doesn’t keep her from recruiting donors and volunteers for Sister Visitor Center, the west Louisville outreach of Catholic Charities of Louisville since 1969. Mary Jo volunteers there as a personal shopper in the choice food pantry where clients shop for foods they want and need in a space set up like a small grocery store.

“When I heard about the choice food pantry I got super excited because this gives the clients a sense of dignity. It’s not just, ‘here’s a bag of food.’ Sometimes people think that if you’re hungry you should be grateful for anything, but everybody can’t eat everything.”

Mary Jo shops with clients, gets to know them, and helps them make the best choices for their families. “I’m a gabber,” she laughs, “so you know I talk with them. I share recipes and ideas.” With Cuban clients who don’t speak English, Mary Jo uses Google Translate. “I talk into my phone and they read it. We find a way.”

She says she’s impressed that most shoppers really are concerned about finding foods that their families will enjoy and taking only what they need. “Often when I tell a shopper they can have two of an item, they will say, ‘No, I only take what I need. Someone else may need it more than I do.’ And I think, ‘Who needs this more than you.’”

Mary Jo says it is “difficult” when the pantry runs low on food and they must limit the amount of meat given to families. Sometimes, they run out of meat entirely, “and it breaks my heart.”

Mary Jo taught school in the Louisville Catholic system for 35 years before retiring. She has a long history of volunteering with a number of outreaches, including tutoring students in west Louisville, and is chair of the Loaves and Fishes social concerns subcommittee at St. Albert the Great Parish. She and her husband have three adult children and 11 grandchildren, “so I guess you could say my family is my hobby.”

Mary Jo wishes everybody could get to know Sister Visitor Center the way she has by visiting, shadowing for a day, and “giving it a try” to see if they would enjoy volunteering. “It really is a privilege to serve these people. It’s a privilege to give them a sense of normalcy of shopping like the rest of us shop and making choices which, of course, is the wonderful thing.”