Susan Spalding (pictured far right) always thought she was going to be a big businesswoman living in Chicago or New York. Does this married mother of four living in Louisville wish now that she were?

“Oh no. Not at all. Not at all.”

And to prove it, she notes that her favorite job ever was waiting tables at the Hungry Pelican when she was in high school because, there, she could “do my job, help somewhere, and make real connections with other people.”

Turns out, that’s the same thing Susan likes about volunteering with Catholic Charities of Louisville. She began helping with the Father Jack Jones Food Pantry about this time last year, usually unloading trucks and sometimes distributing food. In the summer, her daughter, Gracie, helped, too. At Christmas, Susan and her sister, Karen, took the lead in Catholic Charities’ massive disbursement of Christmas gifts and clothing to more than 400 families.

“I like that when volunteering with Catholic Charities I have an opportunity to interact with people and actually see the good that you’re contributing to,” Susan said. “The interactions you have with people are just real and honest and you get to know them. At the food pantry, you have regulars who come, and you start to feel connected.”

Susan said one of the most moving things she’s witnessed as a volunteer is the generosity of the people using the agency’s services. “They’re struggling, but I’ve seen so many people turn to the person next to them and say, ‘Oh, well here, this is the last one. You take it.’  That’s very powerful.”

Susan grew up in Louisville and attended St. Barnabas, Assumption, and Bellarmine. While at Assumption she needed a date for the senior prom and her sister, who was at Bellarmine, had a friend, Stuart. “We’ve been together ever since.” Stuart also volunteered with the Christmas giveaways.

Susan and Stuart have four children, three of whom will be in college this fall. “Free time” is not a big commodity for her, but she does carve out time to read, exercise, and co-lead a Bible study at her home parish, Holy Trinity. She “makes a point to always have good meals to keep the kids wanting to stop in,” and spends time with her own mom every week, too. She said she used to like to go out to eat, but the pandemic changed that and now she is “turning into quite the homebody.” She is still busy, she noted, but, since Covid, “it’s a different kind of busy. It’s more intentional.”

Like volunteering.

“When I volunteer, I feel like I get more out of it than I’m really good for anybody else. You just make such good relationships and people bring joy to your life in ways that you wouldn’t have otherwise. So it’s kind of a bonus.”