CHESAPEAKE - Three heart attacks have not prevented one woman from working straight from her heart for the past 18 years.

Frankie Wallace first began volunteering through her church. She has continued donating her time to the Community Mission Outreach Program (CMO) at the community center in Chesapeake because she realized that many families in the area truly need help.

Wallace, 71, works with the CMO's food pantry. The pantry not only provides food for needy families, but also has a Christmas toy giveaway and an Easter basket giveaway.

"I grew up in a poor family and I would have liked to have had some help," she said.

The pantry provided approximately 430 Easter baskets this year. Wallace also acts as the chairperson for the toy giveaway. She recently began working at the community center's front desk for about three hours a week.

"I especially love volunteering at Christmastime," Wallace said, "The mothers come in and tell us if it wasn't for us, their children would not have any toys," she said.

According to Wallace, the pantry provides food to about 130 families who meet federal guidelines on a regular basis. "We have a lot of families and that's (the numbers) growing."

"We have one couple that doesn't come in that often. I'll ask them, 'Do you need food?' and they usually say no…they do not take handouts often," Wallace said.

"People are out of work. The ones that are working aren't making what they used to. A lot of working families are meeting the guidelines. Some families are too proud to ask for help, but they have to," she said.

Wallace said she does not feel special for volunteering, because there are so many others who volunteer at the food pantry with her and those people are the backbone of the service.

"This is the Lord's work. We do this for Him and it's only because of him and my church that I started volunteering. I would have to give him the credit and not me because that's the truth,"

Pastor David Viars of Big Branch Methodist Church said Wallace has been a member most of her life, including many years before he became pastor.

"I cannot say enough good about Frankie. She's a modest, quiet, unassuming lady who diligently tries to help people," Viars said. "She's a mentor to a lot of people and available to her family and her church family. She regularly takes care of having our church calendar announcements sent to newspapers."

Before her first heart attack and bypass surgery, Wallace operated her own cleaning business for 10 years. She has two children, three grandsons and four great-granddaughters.