Maureen Stenuis doesn’t find it any good to judge people. And there’s isn’t a story out there that will make her think differently.
She’s heard and seen it all as the president of the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry in Greenville, so when someone new walks through the door and tells her their troubles she listens with an empathetic ear.
“You can’t judge anyone for any reason,” Stenuis said.
After everything her family has been through, she knows nothing good will come out of creating a preconceived notion before truly getting a better idea of what’s going on in their life.
Stenuis understands that if someone is walking through the garage door of the food pantry located behind the Sacred Heart Church, there’s probably a good reason.
“For people to come in here and admit they need help, that’s a hard thing to do,” Stenuis said. “And the first time people come in, if they’re genuinely in need, it’s killing them.”
Stenuis never expected or sought out to be the person in charge of St. Vincent de Paul. It was only two months after she joined the organization when Dick Lortie, the man who began the food pantry in 1986, asked her to take over.
“He said if you say no, we’ll have to close it down,” Stenuis remembers. That was 16 years ago.
It’s not an easy job, but Stenuis knows it’s not easy for people to ask for help. So she works long hours for no pay to make sure the people that need food have it. There are trips to the food bank and grocery stores to pick up food and meeting with people at all times of the day.
“Some days I spend from 8 o’clock in the morning to 9 o’clock at night here,” Stenuis said.
Her family has been telling her its time to think about stepping back and letting someone else take over. She is 81 after all. But it always comes back to if she isn’t arranging donations, going to various places to pick up supplies or meeting people in their most pressing time of need, who will. Plus she truly loves what she does.
At the moment, Stenuis has a great group of volunteers who help with coverage at the food pantry, but no one who has an interest in being in charge. And to be honest, she really has no reason to leave.
Over her decade and a half in charge, Stenuis has made so many connections she’d need all of your fingers and toes to keep count. In addition to canned goods, frozen meat and non-perishables, Stenuis will do what it takes to help someone get through whatever troubles they’ve found themselves in. That means securing gas cards, helping connect them with heating assistance or formula for a hungry baby.
“There are just some sad cases,” Stenuis said. “So anything that somebody needs, I’m willing to get it. It’s in my nature.”
Stenuis grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts and lived in Lunenburg for many years. But the last two decades, New Ipswich has been home. She moved to the area as she and her husband Fred were looking to downsize and get closer to two of her five children, one living in New Ipswich and the other in Ashby, Massachusetts.
She is a grandmother to 10 and has four great grandchildren, and her family is really important. She spent a number of years staying home with her daughter’s children, and loved every minute of it.
As a self-described people person, Stenuis was looking for a way to get involved in her new community. Somebody mentioned St. Vincent de Paul, so she went to a meeting. The rest is what you might say is history.
“I’ve done volunteer work, but nothing like this,” she said.
In a way to supplement her social security – since she doesn’t get paid for her work at the food pantry – Stenuis has spent her last 13 summers as camp director at Camp Wellville in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, a Christian camping community. She used to take her kids there when they were little and when the camp director job opened up, her daughter urged her to apply.
“In the summertime, I only do what I need to do (at the food pantry),” Stenuis said.
She’s also cooked for a number of years at Our Lady of Hope House of Prayer in New Ipswich.
Stenuis has actually cooked quite a bit in her life. She worked at the restaurant at Whalom Park and also ran the entire operation. When her youngest was attending Notre Dame High School in Fitchburg, she offered, as a way to offset tuition costs, to run the lunch program at the school.
But once her kids were done with school, Stenuis decided to pursue a career as a travel agent. It was just one of those things she thought would be fascinating and it really stemmed out of planning her own trip to Hawaii three weeks before her 25th wedding anniversary. The travel agent was impressed and said she should consider going to travel school.
“I always joked with my husband that if he didn’t take me to Hawaii before being married 25 years, it’s over,” Stenuis said.
They’ve now been married for 61.
For the next 20 years, she helped people plan their dream vacations all over the world and it just so happened to be at a time where travel agents got a lot of perks.
She’s been to Greece, Brazil, Ireland and Spain, gone on 30 cruises and went to China for 11 days – for a total of $279 – just a year before Tiananmen Square.
In the coming days, Stenuis will be getting together gifts for the children who attend the local Head Start program. It’s mostly winter clothes like snow pants and pajamas, as well as socks and underwear – but there will be some toys as well thanks to the students in the Mascenic School District. And that’s in addition to the 135 Thanksgiving baskets St. Vincent de Paul distributed last month.
It makes Stenuis feel good to know she’s making a real impact on real people.
“You can’t help but think about it,” she said. “Why would you do it if it didn’t make a difference?”
And for someone who has been through so much, Stenuis knows how much it means to have support through the darkest of times. The family home in Lunenberg burned down twice in seven years, her son went through a tough time with substance abuse as a teenager and her husband was clinically dead for nine seconds due to a heart issue.
“I think it was all preparation for this,” Stenuis said. “My family has been through more problems and tragedies, so no matter what people tell me, I can empathize.”
She is a woman of faith who believes that God is “helping me with this monumental job.”
Stenuis knows she wouldn’t be able to provide for those in need without the continued support of the local communities. People drop off food and money that allows them to supplement what is supplied by the government. Feeding 250 or more families a month equates to a lot of food.
“I know how important it is for food to be available to families,” Stenuis said. “Everyone deserves to have food and especially children who don’t have any say.”
While the Thanksgiving baskets and toy drives were in place when she took over, Stenuis started the Friends of the Poor 5K, held each fall in New Ipswich.
But Stenuis doesn’t want credit for all the food pantry provides. It just makes her feel better knowing that if people are in need, she’s there to help.