LOCAL HERO Jennifer Paone A Lifetime of Volunteering

The Monadnock Region is where Jennifer Paone was born and raised, where she and her family live and where she works and pursues her passions. &emsp;&emsp;"Obviously, my passion is for my community," she says. "I have a strong belief that you make your community better. I do that through volunteering." &emsp;&emsp;Paone already felt it was important to give back when she was only 10 years old and volunteered each week after school at her local library in Richmond. &emsp;&emsp;"I did whatever the librarian told me to do," she says of her weekly duties. &emsp;&emsp;By the time she got to college in the late '90s (she earned her bachelor's in film production at Keene State College), she was nominated to be an incorporator for the board of directors at Monadnock Family Services in Keene. &emsp;&emsp;Again, she did whatever needed doing. &emsp;&emsp;"I didn't know anything about it or what it entailed," she says. &emsp;&emsp;She was nominated by Cameron Tease, a board member of the organization at the time. He would become one of the biggest supporters of her volunteer work. &emsp;&emsp;For MFS, she helped get businesses to contribute raffle prizes and other donations for fundraising events. After volunteering for the organization for a couple of years, she began working there in 2003. &emsp;&emsp;She started her Keene-based business, The Production House, that same year, primarily shooting weddings and events at first. She began cutting back on her work at Monadnock Family Services and working full-time in her business in 2015, adding commercial business and nonprofits to her list of clients for her video production services. &emsp;&emsp;It was Tease, who then worked as director of resource development for Monadnock United Way, who suggested Paone volunteer for the organization. She served as a member of its communications committee from 2013 to 2016. &emsp;&emsp;Back in 2019, Paone had to make some choices when she was asked to volunteer for several organizations simultaneously. &emsp;&emsp;"I had to budget my time," she says. "I was asked to be on other boards, and I said 'no' because it wasn't a big enough passion for me to commit to." &emsp;&emsp;She did join the Keene Senior Center's fundraising committee, again, at the suggestion of Tease, who was at the time the organization's executive director. &emsp;&emsp;The second organization she joined then was Arts Alive!, a Keene-based arts advocacy organization. &emsp;&emsp;She had been in conversation with the director, Jessica Gelter, about the organization's fiscal sponsorship program, which she thought could help her work on the documentary film she'd planned about the Colonial Theatre. &emsp;&emsp;When the pandemic hit, the sponsorship program was put on hold. Instead, she approached Gelter about joining the board. &emsp;&emsp;"She put my name forth for nomination," says Paone. &emsp;&emsp;As a board member with Arts Alive!, her work has included attending arts events to talk to patrons about the organization and what it does for artists, finding connections for partnerships and sponsors, and working with donors by keeping them engaged. She also helped launch the organization's Arts Ambassador program — there are now 25 ambassadors. &emsp;&emsp;"I gravitate to anything art or music-related," she says. &emsp;&emsp;Another for which Paone volunteers is Rwanda One 4 One, a Westmoreland-based organization that works with Rwandan families to help educate and provide them with income opportunities. &emsp;&emsp;A board member with whom Paone worked at the Monadnock United Way, who is also her client, asked about her creating a video for the organization. Again, the pandemic halted the project. She decided to become a board member instead, which she did a year and a half ago. &emsp;&emsp;Rwanda One 4 One was founded by Nancy Zeller, who, in addition to being a humanitarian and philanthropist, is an artist who works with natural dyes. On her first trip to Africa in 2013, Zeller assisted a group of 35 Rwandan genocide widows in expanding their color line of hand-spun, naturally dyed yarns with which they create hand-dyed scarves and wraps called Umvas. The trip inspired her to start the organization. &emsp;&emsp;Zeller, who travels to Rwanda once a year (she brings fabric for the women to hand dye and also sells the Umvas from her website), invited Paone to join her on a three-week trip there in April. &emsp;&emsp;In addition to capturing footage of these women and their work, Paone helped lay the groundwork for them to open an art studio in Rwanda to create and sell their fiber crafts directly to the consumer. The space is scheduled to open next year. &emsp;&emsp;"It adds so much more value and meaning to it," she said. "It's a huge step in them feeling empowered and understanding what a wonderful thing this skill they have is and how much other people enjoy it." &emsp;&emsp;While her plate is full between work and volunteering, Paone does have aspirations. &emsp;&emsp;She does a fair amount of volunteer video production work for certain organizations, including Draft Gratitude in Winchester, a draft horse rescue. &emsp;&emsp;"Next, I want to volunteer with the horses," she says. &emsp;&emsp;While it can be challenging to fit volunteering into a full schedule, Paone is flexible, and she can do most of her volunteer work on nights and weekends. &emsp;&emsp;"You make a commitment because you believe in it," she says. "It's important to volunteer for something that's really a passion." &emsp;&emsp;Not only does it make a positive impact on the community, she went on, but it's also mutually beneficial. &emsp;&emsp;"Getting involved in volunteering is a great way to make connections, even social connections," she says. "And if you're facing tough things and put your energy into something positive and you can see your work makes an impact, it makes a world of difference. It makes me feel better knowing that."