Community Champion: Linda Hudson

Linda Hudson is a Jacksonian, involved in her community, offering her services through volunteering.

“I just enjoyed going out in the cafeteria at RIFA, meeting the people coming in, and serving them the food, and doing what we had to do,” shared Hudson.

She started volunteering with RIFA in 2018, cooking food for the soup kitchen.

“They look forward to it. They be out there, energy, smiling, ready to come in, and looking forward to getting a meal. And so that makes me feel good knowing that we was doing something to help somebody,” shared Hudson.

Hudson says it was her grandmother who instilled in her a love for cooking, and it’s a way to use her gifts to give back.

“I take plates to different people that I know that’s not able to get up and cook or they’re a widow or something, and I just look forward to doing it,” she explained.

Hudson was visiting one of her friends at a nursing home in 2012 and saw a need there as well.

“It just fell on my heart once a month to go to Mission and take gift bags with lotion,  deodorant, and soap and socks to the residents… the men and the women,” Hudson said.

She shares some advice for those looking to fill a void in their own communities.

“If you just set your mind to it and say, ‘this is something I want to do’ and go for it, you’ll feel good about it,” she said.