June 7, 2023
Office of Aging & Disability Services
Three Chesterfield residents were inducted into the county’s Senior Volunteer Hall of Fame during a ceremony Tuesday, June 6 at the county’s Career and Technical Center on Hull Street Road.
Linda Hudgens, Alice Mitchell and Audrey Ross were selected from a group of 20 nominees for the 2023 Hall of Fame class.
They join 89 others in the Senior Volunteer Hall of Fame, which was established in 1982 to recognize seniors who provide outstanding volunteer service to the Chesterfield community.
In 2015, the minimum eligibility age was lowered from 65 to 60. Past nominees have ranged in age from 60 to 98.
Since turning 60, this year’s Senior Volunteer Hall of Fame nominees cumulatively have donated more than 180,000 hours of service to the community.
The program was conceived by Dorothy Charles, who worked with the Council on Aging and the Board of Supervisors to develop and sustain it. It is now administered by the county’s Office of Aging & Disability Services.
Learn more about Chesterfield’s 2023 inductees below.
Linda Hudgens
In 2012, Linda started the St. Matthias Episcopal Church food pantry and serves as its coordinator. Prior to that she was worked with Micah at Clark Spring Elementary to provide food for children and their families. She’s responsible for a pantry that currently serves 6000 meals a month with referrals from FeedMore. She coordinates the pantry operations and food donation pickups from several churches and businesses. She oversees 25 volunteers weekly in the food pantry. Linda served as President of the board of The Point at Belgrade and Chairman of Central Virginia Asthma Coalition. She is the driving force of the pantry, which consistently provides meals to families in need, not capping it or turning away those who need food.
Alice Mitchell
Alice Mitchell is a pillar of the Aging & Disability Services Telephone Reassurance Program, which supports connectivity for older adults in Chesterfield. During the pandemic, Alice called participants 7 days a week due to the increased stress, fear and extreme isolation they were experiencing. In addition to her efforts with Telephone Reassurance, Alice serves as an appointed jury commissioner, where she reviews and screens jury eligibility questionnaires to determine whether residents are eligible to serve on juries for the judicial calendar. Alice also served as a volunteer with Senior Connections’ intergenerational “Catch Healthy Habits” program, demonstrating healthy eating options and promoting physical activity to children in summer school. She was even a volunteer caregiver for her best friend, helping prepare meals, transport and keeping her company on her bad days. Alice is always willing to lend a helping hand to friends and neighbors and serves her community in many ways.
Audrey Ross
Audrey conducts research on the history of African Americans in Midlothian and provides presentations to the residents of Chesterfield County and vicinity. She also serves in a variety of volunteer roles, including historian of First Baptist Church of Midlothian and member of the Chesterfield Historical Society's African American History Committee, while actively participating in several projects which involve presentations to county residents. She volunteers as an instructor with the Lifelong Learning Institute and is a member of the Midlothian Special Area Plan implementation team focusing on ways to preserve the Village of Midlothian's history. Audrey assisted 4-H with its annual holiday outreach program for seniors. As a board member for Mid-Lothian Mines and Railroad Foundation, she works to provide a more detailed history of the contributions of the enslaved and freedmen who worked in the coal pits of Midlothian. Audrey was featured in a front-page article of The New York Times: "Reckoning with a Legacy of Insuring Slaves' Lives" about an enslaved ancestor who was a coalminer in Midlothian.