It was Thanksgiving week and Jessica Jortberg was alone, feeling sorry for herself.
She longed to be with her University of Denver teammates at a cross country ski training camp in Crested Butte, but she was “super sick” and had to be left behind. Her parents had gone to Yellowstone National Park, a family Thanksgiving tradition. Her teammates were out of town and so were her other DU friends because the fall quarter had ended.
“I’m notorious for getting sick during finals,” Jortberg said, recalling that lonely week two years ago and how it changed her. “I was just devastated because I was so excited for the quarter to be over. I just wanted to be on snow. I wanted to be skiing. I love Crested Butte.”
She began contemplating the meaning of Thanksgiving, and her self-pity turned into an interest in volunteer work that endures to this day.
“That’s when I realized no matter how unfortunate my situation was, and even though I was so upset that I couldn’t be skiing, I had so many luxuries in life,” said Jortberg, who grew up in Boulder. “The fact that I did have family, and the fact that I did have a place where I could go skiing, and the funds to do so, and a loving team …”
She decided to volunteer at the Grant Avenue Street Reach Soup Kitchen in Denver. She volunteers there nearly every Monday.
“I started going, and I fell in love,” Jortberg said. “It’s the most humbling place I’ve ever been. Just a really nice reality check to realize no matter how bad a day you’re having, going there is so refreshing, to have people who are just looking for a hot meal. I just love it.”
Grant Avenue Street Reach is open only on Mondays. It serves 900-1,500 people weekly, and Jortberg is one of about 30 regular volunteers. Sometimes she washes dishes, but she prefers to serve on the food line because it allows her to interact with “clients” who come in need.
“It’s such a rewarding experience in the sense that they thank you and they’re very appreciative,” Jortberg said. “They know you’re there to help and you’re taking time out of your day. It’s super humbling.”
Dinner is served from 1-5 p.m. On a recent Monday, the place overflowed with people, some with shopping carts and small dogs.
“We have spaghetti, which we always serve, because some people don’t have teeth,” said one of the soup kitchen’s directors, Kathleen Gomendi. “We serve a casserole. We have corn and beans, fruit, salsa, salad, dessert, lemonade, coffee.”
Gomendi proudly showed a visitor a Christian cross one of the clients gave her. Clients like to find small ways of giving back to the people who volunteer at the soup kitchen, even if it’s something they found scavenging in a dumpster.
Watching Jortberg smile and chat with one client after another in the food line, it’s clear she gets plenty in return.
Jortberg was a cross country racer for DU, which won its 22nd NCAA ski championship last season. Her father, Richard, was an Ironman triathlete. Her mother, Bonnie, ran track at CSU and raced professionally for Nike. Bonnie qualified three times for the Olympic trials but was unable to compete all three times because of injury, illness and finally her pregnancy with Jessica.
“That kind of ended her career,” Jortberg said.
Jessica was skiing as soon as she could walk, usually at Snow Mountain Ranch in Grand County. She grew up playing soccer and racing for the Boulder Nordic Junior Racing Team, and after graduating from Boulder High School, she went to DU as one of the rare American nordic skiers to get a scholarship there.
Having graduated with a double major in environmental science and psychology, she’s taking prerequisites at CU-Denver to tackle her next academic challenge: becoming a physical therapist. She also hopes to pursue a career as a professional runner and recently ran her first marathon. Tests have shown she has an enormous aerobic capacity.
“I graduated having a feeling that I still had something more to do athletically,” Jortberg said. “I know I have more talent than maybe skiing showed. I love skiing, but it’s really hard to do post-collegiately.”
Even with her studies and her training, she still finds time for the clients at Grant Avenue Street Reach.
“She treats them as if they were her own family,” Gomendi said. “It comes from the heart. The love that she gives them, it’s just incredible. She’s a gift that was given to us.”
Grant avenue street reach
Where: Basement of St. Paul’s Church, downtown Denver
When: Meals served Mondays 1-5 p.m.
