Fern Niemi of Greenville retired approximately 15 years ago, but she hadn’t wanted to.

“I would go to church, and I would sit in the back and just cry because I didn’t know what to do with myself,” she said.

That changed after the church pastor, who she remembers only as “Father Jim,” recommended Niemi go to a meeting.

“He said, ‘I think you belong here,’” she said.

That meeting led Niemi to get involved with the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at Sacred Heart Church in Greenville, for which pantry President Kevin Little nominated her as the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript’s Hometown Hero for March.

“She’s like my right hand. She does so much. She’s a wonderful lady. People love her,” Little said, adding, “She doesn’t want people to know all the stuff she does. I couldn’t do what I do it it wasn’t for her.”

Among Niemi’s efforts are securing donations from local businesses for the food pantry’s annual Friends of the Poor 5K charity event – its largest fundraiser of the year. 

“Finding someone to ask for money is hard, but she’s gifted in that area,” Little said.

“Now they know me, and they’ll say ‘Oh, it must be that time of year again,’” Niemi said.

Niemi also helps organize the Poor Man's Supper charity event.

“It’s a really great community event, and people love going to it,” Little said.

According to Little, Niemi also helps organize the pantry’s annual Thanksgiving food baskets – 140 meals that included turkey, homemade apple pie, ice cream and all of the elements of a Thanksgiving meal – helped coordinate a July cookout at the Greenville Falls senior housing facility and organized a Christmas party at Greenville Falls.

“Some of the people there, they may not have family members to visit them,” he said.

Niemi volunteers at the food pantry on Wednesdays, but according to Little, she is there every day working on something, and will help get people blankets, food or anything else they need.

“She epitomizes what we’re supposed to do to help others,” he said. “I’ve never met anyone like her.”

Niemi even recruited Little as food pantry president, after he had been involved in running the logistics of the 5K.

“She said, ‘You’ve got to help out. You need to step in,’” he said. “It was kind of in the right place at the right time.”

Niemi said, “I met some wonderful people doing this. I kind of became their friends, I guess,” and she enjoys seeing the looks on people’s faces when they receive a Thanksgiving basket.

“People are so happy. It’s nice to see people when you give them a turkey, you give them a ham,” she said. “It’s wonderful how people get together to do something.”

Niemi also orders items for the food pantry from New Hampshire Food Bank, and goes to the food bank Tuesdays with two guys for pickup.

“They make me sit in the middle,” she said. “It’s kind of fun.”

Niemi has lived in Greenville for 38 years, and said she’ll continue with the food pantry “as long as God wants me to” before joking, “unless Kevin fires me.”