Thanksgiving is about counting your blessings and serving others. One Nelson County woman has committed her entire life to giving, and her most recent volunteering venture has landed her an unconventional title.
Bern Rucker has been helping the Nelson Food Pantry for five or six years, according to her best calculations. But it's not how long she's been helping the pantry that has scored her a unshakable reputation - but what she serves there.
In the backcountry hills of Roseland, Rucker enjoys some quality time with her family. It's a well deserved meal. "So we came here, and I love it. Everybody's so nice," she said. "I've really done more volunteering all my life than anything else."
Rucker volunteered at hospitals for a long time but once she moved to Nelson, her focus shifted to helping the hungry. "You really really find a need in Nelson County. It's amazing the need in this county, the number of poor," she said.
This 93-year-old woman has a very specific assignment at the Nelson County Pantry. Rucker said, "Well I don't know, I just got started working down there and they call me the peanut butter lady. I go down and dish out peanut butter everyday, every time there."
You'd think she has a kitchen stocked with the stuff, but it's only turkey and the fixings. "I don't like peanut butter myself, but it's amazing how many people do," said Rucker.
The Nelson County Pantry has extra cause to be thankful this season. Less than a week before Thanksgiving, a freezer failure had volunteers scrambling to replace more than 300 turkeys. It was people like Rucker who helped the pantry pull through for those in need.
Nelson County Pantry Vice President Marian Dixon stated, "God love our volunteers. They are, how we would ever get by without them, I will never know."
As for the peanut butter lady, it looks like that job won't be open anytime soon. "I am 93 so I'll probably stay here for the better part of the rest of my life," Rucker said.
The peanut butter lady's words of wisdom as we head into the holiday season: just to be kind and patient with one another.
