Women of the Year: Susan McDonald Osborn fills needs through Spokane Helpers Network

Former Spanish teacher and business consultant Susan McDonald Osborn turned a feel-good Facebook post into a nonprofit organization that seeks to help those experiencing temporary hardship by delivering households goods from groceries to toilet paper.

People who regularly volunteer with Osborn’s organization, Spokane Helpers Network, nominated her as Woman of the Year for her caring, compassion and dedication toward others.

“She has a joyful heart,” said volunteer Sheryll Shepard. “I have never seen this woman not smiling. She just exudes joy.”

Osborn welcomes everyone, Shepard said.

“She sees no difference in humanity itself, but she’s able to recognize the uneven distribution between those who have and those who need. She’s always finding ways to bring those two together.”

Shepard said she often recalls a particular Bible verse when she thinks of Osborn: Matthew 25:40, which quotes Jesus as saying that whatsoever people do for the least of his people, they do for him.

“I think she lives that out,” Shepard said. “She just has a heart for this.”

Vanita Davis, who also volunteers with Spokane Helpers Network, said Osborn is kind and goodhearted.

“She cares about people that are unaddressed,” she said. “She tries really hard not to duplicate other services that are provided.”

Spokane Helpers Network provides deliveries of food and hygiene items to people who are experiencing temporary hardship and are homebound. People have used the organization when they are recovering from illness or injury, or when they lack transportation. Davis is one of the volunteers who makes the deliveries.

“She’s just got a good heart,” Davis said. “She’s always looking for ways to help out. She must work 24 hours a day. She’s an amazing woman.”

Osborn spent most of her life living in northern Virginia, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies and Spanish at Mary Washington University. After teaching Spanish for a few years, she took time off to raise her family.

She did volunteer work when her children were little that pointed her down a different career path. When she went back to work, she worked as a business consultant to help companies get the highest productivity possible from their employees, touching on everything from hiring the best employees to making sure employees felt valued. She went back to school and earned a master’s degree in human resources development.

As Osborn looked toward retirement, both of her daughters and their families settled in Spokane. She often flew back and forth from Spokane to Virginia to visit and said she always felt comfortable here. She and her husband, Paul, decided to buy a house here.

“Since I had a virtual company, I would work wherever I wanted,” she said.

The couple found a home on the South Hill that they liked and moved here seven years ago. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Osborn saw a post on Facebook that encouraged people to reach out if they needed help with anything. She thought it was a good idea, so she copied and pasted the post on her own Facebook.

To Osborn’s surprise, a few local women reached out in private messages and offered to help her help others.

“That was the beginning of Spokane Helpers Network,” she said. “They just had a helping heart.”

Soon, requests were coming in for things like shoes, bedding, food and clothing. Osborn and her helpers did their best to fulfill each request.

“At first we thought we could do anything,” she said.

As she went on, however, she learned about programs and organizations in the area that already provided some of the things people were asking her for.

“There’s so many other organizations that are bigger that do those things,” she said.

Osborn and her volunteers shifted gears. They began listing services that other groups provide on a “Help Yourself” Facebook group. These days, posts in the private group, which has nearly 7,000 members, focus on things like mobile food bank locations, free events and free legal help.

“Free anything gets posted to that group,” she said.

Osborn shifted her focus to providing food and hygiene items, and made Spokane Helpers Network a nonprofit organization.

“Our mission is pretty clear,” she said. “We help people who are experiencing temporary financial insecurity.”

Though Osborn’s organization has achieved nonprofit status, it still operates on a shoestring budget. The volunteers joke that her home is “global headquarters,” with the basement full of donations and the living room used to sort and package.

“We had one Costco shelf with food and hygiene items in the garage,” she said. “Of course, now we have much more than that.”

Osborn uses donations to purchase the items she needs. Sometimes a volunteer will spot a good sale and call Osborn, who will sometimes ask the volunteer to purchase the items and be reimbursed for them.

“We are real bargain hunters,” she said. “We do a lot of shopping at Dollar Tree. We don’t have a lot of money. We work out of my house. Nobody is paid. The volunteers donate their gas.”

Though Osborn talks enthusiastically about Spokane Helpers Network, she doesn’t want attention to focus on her.

“There’s nothing special about Susan,” she said. “I think you just have to have a will.”

She said she enjoys the sisterhood she’s created with herself and her volunteers, and appreciates the gratitude of those they help.

Osborn said she believes that if she sees a need, she should help if she can.

“I’m not religious, but I drink the Kool-Aid,” she said. “If you see someone in need, do something.”