Holiday spirit of giving, all year long

During the season of giving, Jeanne Kilduff is busier than ever.

But for her, and many of thousands of local volunteers valleywide, the season of giving never ends.

“It’s just something I do, always have done,” said Kilduff, outreach coordinator at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church. “It’s part of who we are as human beings. We should be helping others, every day, in little and big ways.”

Kilduff, who moved to Las Vegas in 1993 with her husband, John, and her two children, follows through on her personal conviction every day and in big ways. From providing pathways to proper — and often free — medical care to ensuring as many Las Vegas children as possible get their Christmas wish each year, Kilduff offers her help to thousands of locals each year. She is in her office at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday without pay and without question.

“I’ve been doing that for 20 years in Las Vegas, but I’ve done it my whole life,” she said. “It’s very rewarding, but it can be difficult. We have a lot of need in Las Vegas.”

Shannon Bentham, former executive director of the local Children’s Heart Foundation charity, often turned to Kilduff for help.

“She was my phone call when I had a family (and/or) child situation that fell outside of our official programming,” Bentham, co-owner, creative and strategic marketing, Ivory Star Productions. “Jeanne would always find a way to help, from running an impromptu fundraiser or writing a personal check. She never said no and always found a way.

“Jeanne is (a) bedrock foundation for the Las Vegas community, tirelessly giving her time and resources to others,” Bentham added. “She’s a reminder of the good that still exists in a chaotic, often misguided world. Jeanne is an inspiration and embodies a simple kindness. It’s a privilege to know her.”

The hardest part of the job is the vast amount of people who need help.

“It’s easier to do the job all day long than to talk about it because I just tear up,” she said. “It’s so emotional. There’s so much you hear all day, every day. And everybody is unique and has a different story.

“There is a different need every time you turn around. And it’s not just people on the street. These are people with jobs who are struggling. Their medical bills may be high, or their kids get sick; it’s just the everyday that happens that can set you back.”

It’s hard not to be touched by all the stories she hears of people in desperate want, often without family to turn to. It’s also hard to know whether all who enter her outreach office are honestly in need.

“It’s a fine line to walk,” Kilduff said, “because some people are telling you the truth and some are not.”

After more than two decades at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, she still can’t quite discern dishonesty from desperation in all who ask for her organization’s help.

”You can’t judge people; you just do the best you can,” she said. “You have to just pray that you are making the right decisions and after 21 years you never know. Every day is different.”

Doing the right thing has ripple effects big and small. From a man who thanked her for a sweatshirt, telling her she saved his life with that one item, to the annual Angel Tree event, where children ask the community for what they want most for Christmas, she has seen the power of generosity move people to go above and beyond to help a fellow person in need.

“There’s one story, from several years ago, and I always cry when I tell this story,” she said.

A young girl asked for a bike for Christmas and had a tag on a tree Kilduff supervised.

The morning of the official kickoff of that year’s Angel Tree, the little girl was killed in a drive-by shooting.

“I told that story at church, what had happened, and a man came up to me and asked if he could purchase bikes in her memory,” Kilduff said.

She asked him to call her at work on Monday and leave his name and number, not knowing if he was simply moved by the moment or serious about his commitment.

He called.

“He didn’t know her name,” Kilduff said. “I told him her name and he broke down crying. His last name was the same as the girl’s.”

He asked to meet the mother, and Kilduff introduced them. He bought 80 bikes, complete with locks, for that Christmas and continued that tradition each year until he could no longer afford the large donation.

There’s more. There’s always more, she said. So many stories each year, each month, show the heart of the people in Las Vegas, and the generosity of spirit that abounds in the valley all year long.

Every once in a while she’ll get a special child who needs specific things, such as a little boy who needed hearing aids. Kilduff told the congregation of the little boy’s urgent needs, and again a man came up after mass to talk to her.

“He was an elderly gentleman who had had hearing problems his whole life,” Kilduff said. “He wanted to help the little boy so he bought him his first hearing aid.”

He also bought the second aid and more as the boy grew.

“He made arrangements to take care of doctors and hearing aids as the boy grew older,” Kilduff said. “He gave me enough money to give to the mom to take care of him through the doctor’s offices.”

He made all the arrangements before he died so the boy would be taken care of for life.

“Those are the types of things that make you continue to do what you are doing,” she said. “It’s those types of things that make it all worthwhile.”

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is taking donations for Angel Tree recipients through Sunday. Those who wanto help should pluck an ornament at the tree inside the church and buy the item listed on the tag. They should securely tape the tag to the package so it can be properly distributed and return the item to the church’s community center.

Kilduff has been an outreach coordinator at the church for more than 20 years.

“We started out small by collecting food items and working without much,” she said. “We worked with other churches and Catholic Charities, and we still do a lot of work for them.”

Volunteering is in her soul.

“When we were kids we always had to volunteer,” she said. “Our parents were so into the church. We cleaned the convent rectory, oiled the pews, and then when we got older we just kept doing it. We kept doing it all our lives.”

Kilduff grew up in New Jersey and moved to California after she was first married.

“When my kids were small we got involved in our local parish,” she said.

Her husband, John, was with The Howard Hughes Corp. when they first moved to Las Vegas in 1993. He only recently retired but is president of Bishop Gorman High School and volunteers every day, too.

“When we moved to Las Vegas we needed to find a church close by and we met the gal who was the receptionist and she welcomed us,” she said. “It was a good fit.

The church was meeting in trailers then, still gathering parishioners. Her teenage children signed up for volunteering at the fledgling church. They continue to volunteer, as do their children.

Kilduff’s grandsons, 8 and 6, help her with the Angel Tree each year and gather food for delivery to local food banks. Her 2-year-old granddaughter also helps, riding in the truck as Kilduff and her husband drove the Stuff the Truck for Catholic Charities last month.

“So I guess they learned something,” Kilduff said. “You should be kind, hold the door for people, just different random acts of kindness you can do and instill in your children for the rest of their lives. It becomes a part of life as they get older. Everybody should be doing it every day.”