Jessica Turner: Serving Others with Heart

At JHA Companies we are committed to serving others in the communities where our employees live and work. One shining example of that commitment is JHA Accounting Specialist, Jessica Turner, who has made a genuine impact serving at the Seven Loaves Soup Kitchen in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania.

The motivation for Jessica serving at Seven Loaves began a year ago.

“I have been wanting to work at a soup kitchen for a while. I did it when I was in high school and it really touched my heart. So, March of 2025, I reached out to them and asked if I could start coming down. I started going a couple times a month and it just quickly grew to going every Wednesday.”

Seven Loaves Soup Kitchen plays a vital role in the local community by providing meals and food assistance to individuals and families in need.

“It’s a place where people from the community can come five days a week for a hot meal. We also have a food pantry there so they can grab some extra food to take home with them, but it’s to make sure the underserved of our community have a healthy, nutritious, warm meal five days a week.”

What started as a few volunteer shifts a month quickly became a weekly Wednesday commitment.

“We come in anywhere between 2 and 3pm to start prepping the meal for the day. Once it’s all prepped and ready to go, we start packaging it. We probably serve between 100 to 150 total meals every day. We have call-ins where people call and they say we need 5 meals for the night or we also serve the apartments where there are shut-ins, people that can’t get out, and we have volunteers that come and pick those meals up. We also have communities outside of Tunkhannock all the way to Laceyville, Center Moreland, different places, churches will come and pick up those meals and deliver them to people that can’t get out of their house, shut-ins, they’ve had surgery, whatever it is. So, we prep however many of those that need to be picked up. We prep the ones for the apartments, we prep all of the takeouts, and then we prep the meals that we give as people come in the door.”

For Jessica, volunteering is about more than providing meals.

“I wanted to serve God in a way that showed his love to people in a tangible way, you know, and people need food. There are so many people in this world that don’t have support. I grew up with support always, even in hard times, there are always people in my life, but there are so many people that feel alone. I just wanted to find a way to connect with those people. And it’s just a wonderful place to share the love of Jesus.”

Her experiences at the soup kitchen have reinforced the importance of human connection.

“Some days it’s just about bringing the Spirit of God in joy and peace while we’re working. And God has brought homeless people there that he’s allowed me to help through the work of other people. We’ve helped people get into hotels for a period of time. We’ve helped give people rides to where they need to go. It’s just a place where I can be surrendered and see God move. And I love watching him move and help people.”

JHA’s Volunteer Time Off (VTO) program has played an important role in helping Jessica maintain her commitment to serving. The program allows employees to dedicate paid work time to volunteer activities, making it easier to support causes that matter to them.

“I work for JHA, which is a company that promotes the values of Jesus Christ, which is loving your neighbors and serving others. The volunteer time off program that JHA allows our employees to volunteer for good causes and be paid for it. I use the Volunteer Time Off program for an hour or two a week so that I don’t have to make up that time and I can go volunteer 3 to 4 hours a week at the soup kitchen. It means I don’t have to use my personal vacation time or work extra another day. And it just took that pressure off, to have those extra hours so that I can focus on my time when I’m there.”

Programs like VTO empower employees to invest in their communities while balancing their professional responsibilities.

Jessica’s story exemplifies the spirit of compassion that JHA seeks to encourage and is a powerful reminder that small acts of service can have a lasting impact.

“When you’re having a hard time in life and you just need something, somebody’s there, not just for the food, but there’s somebody there to say hi, to smile, to give you a pat on the back. I’ve even prayed with people. It’s been a huge blessing.”

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