Created: 9/21/2009 3:32:05 PM 
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- When Bonnie McNulty first moved to Jacksonville almost twenty years ago from Annapolis, Maryland, she didn't have all of this around her.
"My husband went off to work and my daughter went off to school and I was feeling sory for myself," says McNulty.
It was a call to her mother that got her thinking.
"And I said, you know, I thought when a door closed, God gave you another door to open. And she said, yes, that's true. But you need to turn the handle."
Fortunately for the Mandarin Food Bank, this was the handle Bonnie turned.
For eighteen years, Bonnie has volunteered her time. The food bank serves about 30 families a day, 10 thousand people a year. It's more than just handing out food. Bonnie teaches life skills to recipients who come here.
McNulty says, "we learned very early on that education was as important as giving out food. So when you say life skills, you mean helping people with life skills. Yes, helping them set goals. Not only short term goals but long term goals."
As a former nurse, Bonnie brings a lot of expertise to the job, but if you listen to some of the other 180 volunteers who work with Bonnie, they'll tell you it's her attitude that really makes the difference.
"I think she is probably the most unusual person I've ever met because she never quits. This place can be discouraging. She just goes on and on and never gets discouraged. She's not only positive, she's double positive. She gives two hundred percent, not one."
"There are tears shed on both sides of the desk," McNulty says. "But I feel very strongly that this is a joyful place, that we are a place of hope and we try our best to do all we can for each family and feel we do a pretty good job of it."
Bonnie certainly does. For all the hope she gives to others, we are proud to salute Bonnie McNulty as one of 12 Who Care.
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