FAIRHOPE — Angela Jones has made a career for herself in the medical industry, but when you ask her what life is, she’ll tell you it has more to do with breath or a heartbeat. She’ll tell you seven years ago, comfortable with a job at a New Orleans infirmary, she merely “existed.” A widow, she was still raising the younger of her two children. She had a house and a housekeeper, and a collection of shoes and purses for any occasion. She was happy, but lacked fulfillment. Then the city flooded.

“Everything I thought was important before then vanished,” Jones remembers of the experience. “The only thing that mattered to us was getting out alive.”

Sometime between being stranded with 16 family members on a third-floor apartment, wading for miles through neck-deep floodwater to the Superdome, and an exhausting 10-hour displacement to Dallas, Texas, Jones questioned her existence. Then, a stranger named Summer, who was working at the Plano reception area, literally offered Jones the shoes off her feet.

“I was still distraught and exhausted and disoriented,” Jones said. “But when Summer did that little act of kindness, it lifted me up, and I realized it was time to start living again.”

Weeks later, Jones had relocated to Fairhope, where with the help of more strangers, she began to rebuild her life. She was offered a job at Thomas Hospital, where she now works in an outpatient lab. A coworker began to bring her food from Prodisee Pantry. Two shoppers left $100 for her at the cash register of a Dollar General store. Someone gave her a van. But it wasn’t until she began to share her good fortune that she found fulfillment.

At work, she started “Summer’s Shoes,” a collection of clothing that is donated to those in need. She coordinates an annual fashion show to benefit Prodisee Pantry, where she volunteers on her days off, helping with inventory, registration and distribution. She has started a part-time adult sitting service, using money she earns to deliver food to elderly residents of a Fairhope trailer park.

“We have so much of need out here, and it’s getting worse,” Jones said. “Knowing there are other people out there going hungry or don’t have anyone to check in on them, it hurts my heart. So, that’s where I find comfort and what I call ‘living;’ giving to someone and not asking for anything in return.”

DeAnn Servos, executive director of Prodisee Pantry, said it has been incredibly rewarding to get to know Jones first as a client and later as an active volunteer.

“I think Angela’s success story has little to do with the pantry,” Servos said. “She is motivated and determined and genuinely cares about people. She volunteers more time than anyone asks her to. If [the pantry] wasn’t here, I’m sure she would be using that time to volunteer somewhere else.”

Prodisee Pantry opened in 2003 as a ministry of Spanish Fort United Methodist Church; it incorporated in 2005 as an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Come January, the pantry is hoping to relocate from their namesake shopping center at the corner of U.S. Highways 98 and 31 to a 16,000-square-foot warehouse a few miles east.

Although Jones and others have been able to overcome their most desperate times, Servos said Prodisee Pantry is now serving more people than ever. As recently as Nov. 9, the pantry served 420 families in a single day. At that time, more than 7,000 families had been assisted through the year. The pantry accepts nonperishable food items, personal hygiene items, cleaning supplies, diapers and more. Donations are tax-deductible and receipts are available for contributions, if needed.

“We are here for those in need but we are also in need ourselves,” Servos said. “New volunteers are welcomed anytime.”

Meanwhile, Jones says she has put her ordeal behind her, and now focuses on helping others.

“It makes me feel good to know I’m doing a good job and God is giving me peace,” she said. “So many other people have been through so much worse. I don’t live a lavish life. It was OK then, but now when I donate or give a little bit of myself, I’m living.”