(Posted 2025 February)
Meet Jeannine!
Position: Regional Volunteer Coordinator with Volunteer Solutions in the Adult and Aging Division
I started working at Fairfax County in 2013 (after applying for more than 30 years). I am a life-long resident of Fairfax County and the youngest of 6 kids. My father ran a small business serving mobile home residents (most located in the South County area). Fairfax County is one of the richest counties in the nation, yet it still has pockets of great need and inequity. I love being able to give back to our community and helping everyone live their best life and thrive.
Volunteers positively impact our community. Volunteer Solutions offers meaningful opportunities to help support older adults, adults with disabilities, and family caregivers. In my role, I orient, train, and process new volunteers every month. I am privileged to communicate weekly with more than 175 active volunteers who currently support more than 60 clients with accessing a variety of services. In addition to serving clients, I also connect volunteers to serve in the senior centers and adult day health care centers managed by Neighborhood and Community Services. I love supervising interns who work in our offices and teaching them about our community, county and state. I also help coordinate the annual Venture into Volunteering Fair, a resource fair that highlights opportunities for community members to volunteer with government and nonprofit organizations in our region. Please reach out to me if you want to volunteer and use your 16 paid hours the county provides to you each year.
I attend community outreach events throughout the year to share information about the Adult and Aging programs and resources we have available. One of my favorite events is the Mount Vernon District Town Hall Meeting. What Supervisor Gerry Hyland started as a "bus ride" around the district is now a virtual “fly over” showing what is happening in the region. Lastly, I assist the Companion Pet program that provides robotic pets to older adults which are proven to combat socially isolation and loneliness.
My master’s degree focused on community and policy, leading to a career of helping others. I have a bachelor’s degree in social work from Radford University. I earned my master’s degree in social work from George Mason University, as a member of the first graduating class in the master’s program. I also hold a certificate in nonprofit management from Mason. I have worked with several nonprofit organizations during my career, including 12 years with Northern Virginia Family Service. I was the first paid Executive Director with Lorton Community Action Center. I also worked with The Campagna Center, Catholic Charities of the Arlington Diocese, and Senior Services of Alexandria. I wouldn’t trade anything for these past 40 years of social work service working in the City of Alexandria, Fairfax, Prince Willima and Arlington counties!
As a member of the sandwich generation, I am proud I had the opportunity to help my parents and in-laws live their best lives. While raising our children, we made it a priority to spend time caring for our elders. I believe our children and older family members both benefited.
In my free time, I like to read, attend theater productions, visit Ocean City, Maryland, and spend time at our family cabin in the Shenandoah Valley.
My husband is a pastor, and I often spend time outside of work serving others through our church and in our community. My son works with the Peace Corp in DC and my daughter serves as a pre-school administrator in Alexandria.
I love animals. We have three Dachshunds and a special needs tripod cat, rescued from Kuwait. We always adopt our animals.
A fun fact many people may not know about me: I met my husband when he was a summer youth director at my home church. Eight years later we started dating after reconnecting with each other when he performed the wedding ceremony for my best friend’s widowed grandmother and his widowed father. The families had known each other for more than 50 years and I had no idea they knew each other! My husband and I married not long after that wedding. We like to say the family connection was destiny!