Grace Kirkpatrick isn’t like most her age, especially when it comes to free time.
Most high schoolers would rather hang out with friends, play video games or follow the most recent viral TikTok trend. She does find the time to do those things as well, but it’s not her priority.
Something bigger calls for her attention.
The senior spends her off days from Bow High School and plenty of her free time at The Friendly Kitchen as one of the dining room coordinators.
Let’s backtrack to March of 2020. As the world entered into an unknown reality with the mass outbreak of the pandemic, kids were sent home from school. Living rooms turned into offices and as everyday life shut down. Kirkpatrick was in need of something, anything, to fill the days.
That’s when her dad suggested she go with him to help volunteer at the kitchen.
“I was bored out of my mind and I just came in and helped out in the kitchen,” she said. “I came in probably five or six times until I left for a summer job.”
Initially, something that just filled the void, she couldn’t help but think about those five or six times throughout the summer. It helps that when she returned, she was in need of a job so she reached out to Valerie Guy, the executive director, to see if she could volunteer. Instead, she was hired.
Volunteer to dining room coordinator initially was a big jump, but with a few months under her belt the transition now has felt seamlessly easy. Among of her responsibilities is to make sure meals are ready to go both for takeout and for guests who opt to dine in, now that they’re able to.
She also makes sure that the pantry is organized for the up-and-running family-friendly meals program that started earlier this year.
There hasn’t been a specific instance for Kirkpatrick that she thinks upon, but rather the hundreds of little moments. Making friends with the staff, sitting down with guests to offer some company or even the clean-up once everyone has left.
Service has always been a subject of interest for Kirkpatrick, but working at the kitchen has led to bigger areas and has exposed her to real-world issues that affect the community like food insecurity.
“It’s just something that I never even thought about,” she said. “People might think of homeless people when they think of a soup kitchen, but it’s more than that. There are people that are housed, that have jobs, but with food prices going up and COVID, they can’t afford it.”
Through her experience at the kitchen, her passion has now turned into purpose. As a senior with post-high school decisions on the horizon, Kirkpatrick has applied to state schools throughout New England where schools have options to study community planning and resourcing. Some of the schools she’s looked at include UMass and UConn. While she’s yet to make a decision (looking at a March announcement date) her time spent volunteering and now working could potentially shape into a career.
But before that time comes, there’s still work to be done in Concord and that’s where her primary focus will be until it’s time to leave, especially with making an effort on the human aspect of her job.
“I want to keep getting to know the guests,” she said. “I like them a lot. I like talking to them and I’m really going to miss them when I leave so I want to soak up every minute I have with them.”