Jensen named Peoria Hometown Hero in Volunteer category
Submitted photo
Lori Jensen (right) pictured with her family. She has been named a Hometown Hero in the Volunteer category.
Posted
How to Nominate
Know somebody in Peoria who should be recognized as a Hometown Hero? Here is how to do it.
Email: Send your nomination to aznews@iniusa.org, or fill out this nomination form yourvalley.net/hh-nomination/index.html.
After that: the nomination will be reviewed, and monthly winners will be selected based on their community contributions. Nominations should include name, email address and phone number along with the category of nomination, some details about the person being nominated and their accomplishments.
Lori Jensen has always had a passion for community service, but it hit particularly hard just before businesses and school closed for the pandemic, in 2020.
That’s when she began serving as an administrator and specialist for JustServe.org, an initiative and free website that connects nonprofit and government agencies, churches and schools to volunteers who want to perform community service.
Even with the stay-at-home mandates, she said, people still needed to eat and have a place to live, and JustServe.org became a place for many people, including herself, to find ways to serve during the pandemic.
She provided her service via drive thru meals, collecting food and hygiene items for (our friends on the Nation,) as well as helping with online tutoring and reading programs while kids were not in school.
She has also organized backpack drives, trash pickups, blood drives, food drives, provided veteran assistance and even provided classes at the library on how to find volunteer opportunities for students wishing to gain high school credit hours.
More recently, she helped with the 9-11 National Day of Service.
As a JustServe Specialist, her main focus has been to form and connect relationships with local agencies, help them identify volunteer needs, and post those needs on the JustServe.org website for volunteers to search for and sign up.
She said that for the past three years of service, JustServe has been a blessing for her to meet incredible like-minded people who serve in the community,
Jensen is so volunteer-oriented that even on vacation, she and her family like to look on JustServe.org where they are visiting and take part in something local.
“I have been very fortunate to be involved in the community and to serve in many of the nonprofits in the area which help to make Peoria a better place,” she said. “Serving with others, forming relationships, and getting to know people from different backgrounds, all while having uplifting and experiences over the years, has given me a gift to connect to others to have fun and to help when they are in need.”
For her service to the greater community Jensen has been named a Peoria Independent Hometown Hero.
The Hometown Heroes Awards are a celebration of individuals who live, work or teach in the city, and Peoria businesses for their achievements and distinguished contributions to the community and beyond.
Jensen will be honored at an awards luncheon next year. The third annual Hometown Heroes luncheon will honor those nominated in 2023.
Mesquite District Councilmember Brad Shafer said Jensen’s love for her church, as well as her love, selflessness and pride in her community, among other things, make her a true Hometown Hero.
Her community outreach and knowledge is unparalleled, and if there is a nonprofit with a need, Jensen has most likely talked with them and offered to help them find volunteers, Shafer said.
“She has had a personal hand in so many different charitable organizations and helped gather volunteers for so many different projects across the West Valley for the last several years,” Shafer said. “Her work with JustServe.org has helped thousands of volunteers find projects to be a part of.”
Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Philip Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.
Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater.
Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.
By 
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here