Jeanne Woods of Shelter Island is a driving force in her community

When it comes to community service on Shelter Island, Jeanne Woods is a driving force — literally.

Woods, 83, transports fellow seniors to their medical appointments and, as part of a program coordinated by Suffolk County, also drives to Riverhead each week to shop at big-box stores for seniors who can’t travel far or are shut-ins.

Her other vehicular volunteer efforts include delivering meals twice a week to residents who are unable to purchase or prepare their own food through Meals on Wheels and bringing food around Thanksgiving and Christmas to residents through the Shelter Island Lions Club and St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.

“What I do, I just do; it brings me such joy,” Woods said. “On Shelter Island, there’s a lot of senior people, and we need transportation to everything because there is no public transportation. You learn to help one another any time you can.”

Joanne Sherman, president of the Senior Citizens Foundation of Shelter Island, commended Woods for her efforts.

“Living on a somewhat isolated island, with a higher average age than neighboring Long Island communities, presents unique problems,” she said. “There is no fast food here, no 7-Elevens or shopping districts . . . and no bridge to the mainland. That means many of our residents have to rely on others, and Jeanne is one of those ‘others.’ ”

Sherman added that Woods “often says that she is blessed to live on Shelter Island, but the truth is we are blessed that she lives on Shelter Island.”

Woods and her late husband, Ken, relocated from Forest Hills, Queens, to Shelter Island in 1997, one year before she retired from her job as a manager in the treasury department of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association in New York City. She has since become a fixture in the community, and her volunteer work has included socializing with patients at the East End Hospice and re-establishing a free blood pressure screening program at the Shelter Island Heights Pharmacy.

She has also assisted the Amityville-based nonprofit Kids Need More, which strives to enhance the lives of children and families coping with life-threatening illnesses, by hosting staff members who volunteer at a nearby summer camp. In addition, she has taken in athletes during the summer while they compete in the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League.

“You don’t expect anything back, but it always comes back,” Woods said of community service. “I’ve seen it happen so many times. You just have to be open to when it comes.”

Woods is also a board member and treasurer of the Senior Citizens Foundation of Shelter Island and a eucharistic minister at Our Lady of the Isle Roman Catholic Church in Shelter Island Heights.

One of Woods’ neighbors, Ann Biddlecom, said Woods recruited her to volunteer with Meals on Wheels and the East End Hospice.

“Jeanne is like a calm anchor,” Biddlecom said. “She doesn’t wait to be asked . . . and she puts in the work to make things happen.”

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.