“She is very dedicated to helping provide for the needs of people in the community,” said Cindy Mitchell, who nominated McCarty as a Community Gem.
McCarty has spent long hours pouring herself into the renovation of The Common Good’s space and helping people in need, Mitchell said.
“There are more and more people in need of help,” she said.
Mitchell’s husband, Dick, volunteers regularly at The Common Good, so the couple has gotten to know McCarty well. About 50 volunteers help regularly at The Common Good.
“I enjoy working with Jenny. You know where she stands. You know she is organized, and her heart is with the community. She is not out to do for herself; it is a very selfless position,” said Dick Mitchell.
McCarty puts everybody else first, he said.
“I appreciate the fact that she knows what she wants to do, she’s able to articulate it and it gets done, which is pretty awesome,” he said. “She’s done an excellent job working with businesses as well as individuals in the community to keep everything going.”
McCarty first took a position with Graceworks Lutheran Services in 1998, overseeing the program that would eventually become The Common Good in 2019.
McCarty also has a background in retail, having worked her way through college at Sears. She has a social service degree from Wright State University.
“The program that I run, and now I am the executive director of, is a thrift store. It’s what I call a basic needs center, or an essential needs center,” McCarty said.
The thrift store is also their main source of funds, she said, in addition to funding from United Way. Through those, they are able to provide funding for a food pantry, a clothing giveaway, a financial assistance program and a back-to-school program, McCarty said.
When McCarty first started, the food pantry was small served every three months.
As the community’s need for emergency food assistance grew, so did other needs.
“We realized that if they are having trouble putting food on the table, they are probably having trouble with other things, so we’ve added several programs,” McCarty said.
The Common Good has food pantries in every junior high and high school in Preble County. The programs offered by The Common Good are not based on income, they are based on need.
“Food is not often the root; it is just a problem of many other things. So, what we do is work with people, and we figure out what is going on. What other resources do you need,” she said.
She said it was an honor being named as a Community Gem.
“It’s nice to know I’m making a difference,” she said.
McCarty is driven by her calling to serve people and the community.
“I always tell people, this is not a job, it’s a calling. I am a strong believer that God puts us where we are needed, and where people need you, and that is what I did,” McCarty said.
The Common Good is also expanding, having outgrown the building it’s been in since 1984.
“We have just purchased a new building, and we are going to expand,” said McCarty.
The new building, one block north at 114 N. Cherry St. will allow The Common Good to offer life skills classes. It’s nearly double the size of the current building.
“At the end of this year/beginning of next year, we’ll be in a new building, where we can provide even more services, and different services like life skills classes, such as how to make your food budget stretch, how to fill out job applications and interviewing skills, and do even more of what we’ve been doing,” McCarty said.
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