Anne Judson

Anne Judson volunteers at the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program (VRRP) and helps a family with triplets. She has known about VRRP since they first started in 1999. The Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program helps relocate refugees to Vermont. They help provide the basic needs for the refugee families. Anne also helps a family that has triplets and a son only eleven months older. She has been helping this family since before the triplets were born. From organizing their apartment to changing a dirty diaper, she is always ready to help.

Anne was born in Madison, Wisconsin and has moved around quite a bit since then. She lived in Rome, Italy, Costa Rica, Princeton, New Jersey, Boston, Massachusetts, Brattleboro, Vermont, and is currently living in Burlington, Vermont. Anne has an older sister and an identical twin sister. Her sisters also do volunteer work. Her twin helps with the triplets also, and her older sister volunteers with the Quaker Community in Philadelphia. Anne also has two children, Eliza who is 26 and Christopher who is 30. Eliza volunteers as a mentor in a Big Sister Little Sister program. Anne has been the director of graduate education at Saint Michael's College for twelve years. In 2009, she earned the top Saint Michael's service award called the Norbert A. Kuntz Award. Anne is greatly appreciated there for stepping in wherever needed. "Whether substituting for an instructor, supervising student teachers, or coordinating new programs, Anne does all with grace and responsibility."

When Anne was living in Princeton, New Jersey, she volunteered for the first time. She was in seventh grade and was given an assignment from school to do community service. She loved working with kids so she volunteered at a preschool. "Volunteering is a duty," says Anne, it's just what you do." She loved volunteering at the preschool so much that ten years later she got a job there.

Anne has been volunteering at Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program for eight years. Her favorite thing to do there is to clear out unwanted donations, such as mattresses soaked with water or a broken crib. She also helps collect pots and pans, silverware, beds, tables, chairs, dressers and other donations to keep in a storage area. She volunteers to help the Pial family that recently had triplets. The father of the triplets was a refugee. He is from Sudan and was one of the Lost Boys of Sudan during the Second Sudanese Civil War. He lost his whole family in the war. He and some other children from Sudan got relocated to the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program in Colchester. One of those children later became his wife. They got married and had their first child named Moses. Only eleven months later, she had triplets named Norbert, Ramsey, and Michael. Norbert and Michael are identical and Ramsey is fraternal. When the mom was in the hospital, a social worker who knew the Pial family contacted Anne to help set up an apartment for the family. Anne helped get a crib, baby seats, and volunteers. They created a website called Lotsa Helping Hands. This was designed to help people set up times when they can help the Pial family. The mother had 42 volunteers the first year to help her take care of four kids under the age of 1. "When I walk in the door I do whatever needs to be done," says Anne.

The triplets were born in April 2010 and will be celebrating their fourth birthday next week. Anne's favorite part about helping the triplets is receiving the love they give. Since Anne grew up with a twin sister, she's used to helping her sister with whatever she needed. With the triplets, she has to develop boundaries to know when to help and when to let them be independent. Anne doesn't need a schedule or a specific job to be helpful. She is always helping with whatever is needed.

Anne is an inspiring role model to me. She loves to help her community and serve those in need. I learned a lot from her about serving your community and helping people that don't have the family support I have. I've never experienced war or poverty and I can't imagine how difficult it would be to have to relocate to a foreign country. I know that I would be so grateful to have a person like Anne Judson help me. I also love to work with children and hope that I can be as caring as Anne Judson.