Striving to help those in need and with a passion for travel, Magnolia’s Jessie Strauss, 75, has been instrumental in building houses in communities all over the world, through Habitat for Humanity.
“You see life like it really is,” she said. “I enjoy seeing other cultures.”
Strauss has been on 33 trips so far, 30 of which she led. In total, 285 separate individuals, of various ages, have gone on her trips. She has volunteered more than 30 hours per week for the last 10 years, and more than 15 hours per month from 1997 to 2003.
“I never feel this is any sacrifice — this is fun,” she said. “People say, ‘It’s so good for you to do this,’ as if it were a sacrifice, but it’s not at all.”
Special to the teams she has led is that, when visiting a developing country, they dress up like clowns and put on a carnival for chilfren in the community. When she went to Guatemala, where a whole village had been wiped out by a mudslide, her team visited a school to entertain the nearly 400 kids who showed up.
“That was really wild,” she said.
It is largely due to her dedicated work with Habitat for Humanity that Strauss was voted Washington state’s Outstanding Senior Volunteer, in the Salute to Senior Service contest held by Home Instead Senior Care (a provider of non-medical, in-home care services for seniors).
“Her leadership has made a difference in countless lives, and it is a privilege to honor Jessie for all that she has done for Habitat for Humanity and communities all over the world,” said Kristi Larson-Low, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office serving Seattle.
An inspiration to others
The Salute to Senior Service program was launched last year by the Home Instead Senior Care network to honor seniors’ commitments to their causes and communities.
“Jessie represents so well the dedication and commitment that make senior volunteers such a value to their communities,” noted Jeff Huber, president of Home Instead Inc. “She has proven once again that age is meaningless when it comes to making a difference. So many charities, nonprofit organizations and faith communities could not do the work they are doing without selfless volunteers such as Jessie.”
As one of the 50 state winners, Strauss was awarded $500 for the nonprofit charity of her choice. Strauss has designated the money to go toward Habitat for Humanity’s building materials for a future home in El Salvador, such as rebar, concrete blocks, doors, windows and roofing material. This is added to at least $70,000 that she estimates she has raised over the years for Habitat for Humanity.
“I was very happy because of the monetary gift to Habitat,” she said.
Though excited about the award, Strauss admits that, with her relentless campaigning for votes during the 15-day voting period, it was not unexpected.
“I knew I had a chance in Washington state,” she said.
As a state winner, she will now be considered for the national Salute to Senior Service award. The winner, who will receive $5,000 toward the nonprofit charity of their choice, will be announced on June 30. In contrast to the state winners, who were selected by a popular vote, the national winner will be determined by the comments made on each winner’s profile at www.salutetoseniorservice.com.
“I don’t want to be like Jessie Strauss when I grow up — I want to be Jessie! She is an incredibly inspiring person,” noted Marcia Ives, in one of many comments left by numerous admirers on Strauss’ profile page.
A different trip each time
Strauss took her first Habitat for Humanity trip in 1997. She has since helped build homes in 13 countries, including the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, India, Mongolia, China, New Zealand and Zambia.
She is currently preparing to visit her 14th country, El Salvador, later this month. She will lead a trip there on behalf of Global Village and Habitat for Humanity International to help build a house for a family who presently lives in cramped and unsafe conditions. Then, in April, she will return to Guatemala.
“I thought that would be a good way to see a country,” she said, adding that she had not been on a trip anywhere, aside from Canada, for about 40 years prior to that.
Now, she typically goes on a trip two to three times per year, and sometimes more than that. And she has had countless experiences.
“Someone said, ‘If you’ve been on one Habitat trip, you’ve been on one Habitat trip,’ because they’re each so different,” she said.
During one of her earlier trips, to Peru, a benefactor of one of the homes named her baby “Jessie,” after Strauss.
In addition to her Habitat for Humanity trips, Strauss has also led trips to work with Safe Passage (an education program that helps children living in the Guatemala City Garbage Dump) and with Seeds of Learning (building a community building in an impoverished Nicaraguan village).
She recalls meeting a kid in Nicaragua who once showed her his family’s living conditions.
“When I went into the house that they lived in, there was nothing but mud on the floor,” she said. “My eyes were just filled with tears when I saw that.”
Strauss has had a deep-rooted interest in volunteering, from childhood. As a young member of the Girl Scouts, she enjoyed baking cookies for someone ill and caroling, among other things. She is still in touch with a number of members from that troop.
Strauss has three grown children, three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren and lives with her husband John, a retired high school principal.
“He has never gone on any of the trips, but he is very supportive,” she said.
For more information or to read the nomination story about Jessie Strauss, visit www.SalutetoSeniorService.com.
To contact Jessie Strauss for information on joining her on a Habitat for Humanity trip, call (206) 286-8727 or e-mail Jessie@jessiestrauss.com.
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