Volunteering seems to come naturally for Vivian Rasmussen, who’s entering her junior year of high school this fall. During the school year in San Antonio, Vivian is involved in Interact, Rotary International’s service club for young people. She’s given her time to everything from adding tags to socks for cancer patients to participating in trash pickup events. But the way she’s served for the last two summers—at Hope Supply Co. (HSC)—stands out as especially meaningful.
Giving her time at HSC “feels more personal,” Vivian says. “It’s great to do the things at the meetings in the club and do the outside-of-school stuff, but I feel like here you actually get to know the people, and you really get to make a difference.”
Vivian learned about Hope Supply Co. through a family friend while looking for ways to volunteer during her summers in Dallas. She began serving in HSC’s diaper pantry in 2025.
“It was a lot of fun, and I got to talk to people coming in,” Vivian recalls. “I loved it so much last year, I came back. … I love how we help people because it feels more personal than just making a box or packing a box and then just giving it away. … You actually interact with people, and you know that these diapers are going somewhere good, to people that need them.”
She was drawn back both by her desire to accomplish something for good and by the people she’s met. “The people that work here are all really nice and hardworking. … The people that come in too, they all have different stories.” She shares about a teacher who visited the pantry with her twin boys and was impressed by this mom’s desire to do whatever she could for her children. “She just wanted to give everything to her kids. It was very, very sweet.”
During her second summer at HSC, she’s volunteering in the warehouse, where she packages diapers so they’re ready to be given to moms who visit the pantry, as well as sorts donations to ensure that clients receive good-quality items. “It’s very rewarding. It’s honestly pretty fun—they put music on while you’re packing stuff in the warehouse,” Vivian says. “And it’s just good work.”
She adds, “All the baby clothes are so cute, and I love being around all the baby clothes and all the baby toys and all the teddy bears all around here. … It’s a very fun place.”
In addition to finding an enjoyable and meaningful way to spend her summers, through volunteering at HSC, Vivian has discovered how vital diapers are in addition to other essentials like food and shelter, and she’s grown in her awareness of the need in the community. “I didn’t really understand the significance of it when I first came here,” she reflects. “I didn’t realize that diapers were so necessary and so expensive. But being here, it’s definitely taught me that.” In addition, she shares, she’s learned, “Situations can change, and situations are not necessarily a result of your own actions. And also, there are a lot of ways to help people.”
Helping people is just what Vivian has done as she’s volunteered at Hope Supply Co., and we’re so grateful she’s brought her desire to serve to HSC! As she sums it up: “I just want to make life easier for people. … I want to help people that need it.”