A lifetime of giving: Paige Youschak-Thompson a full-time volunteer for the Children's Auction

LACONIA — “No” is not in Paige Youschak-Thompson’s vocabulary.

The city resident has been volunteering for countless nonprofit organizations for over a quarter century, and she gives of herself as if she were employed full time. She “works” for a handful of nonprofits in the Lakes Region, and every day is full, well beyond 9-5.

“When everybody says 'no,' I am always the one who says 'yes,'” Youschak-Thompson says.

Grateful to have the time to help organizations with tasks that range from administration to organizing major events, Youschak-Thompson says, “I think I was born to volunteer. I don’t have to worry about getting paid or asking for raises.”

She adds, “When you volunteer, nobody can be too critical of you.”

Getting started in education, career

Youschak-Thompson grew up in Rye, and earned a degree in hospitality from the University of New Hampshire. After working as the food and beverage manager of Rye Beach Club in Portsmouth and other industry jobs, she met her future husband, Daved Thompson, at Patrick’s Pub & Eatery in Gilford, and the two moved to Hawaii in 1989.

The couple returned three years later, and Youschak-Thompson dipped a toe in the health industry after earning certification in nutrition. After getting married in 1998 and having her daughter Ryan in 2000, she settled into a career as a serial giver.

Getting started volunteering

St. Vincent de Paul was the first benefactor of Youschak-Thompson’s graceful service. Every day, she helped get things done.

“I was the youngest one who worked there,” she says, noting she volunteered there for about three years. “I love to give back. If I have free time to give to somebody, I feel the gesture will always come back to me. It makes me feel good.”

After Ryan started school at Holy Trinity, Youschak-Thompson went deep as a volunteer there, joining the PTA and the school’s board, and taking on a host of other roles. She co-created the Snow Flake Festival to raise money to buy things like computers. It was her first foray in organizational management and leadership.

Becoming an auction angel

Six years ago, Debbie Frawley Drake recruited Youschak-Thompson to help receive donated items at the Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction, an organization Youschak-Thompson had been longing to assist.

She is now the self-appointed assistant to Executive Director Jennifer Kelley, and she serves as chair of the Engagement Committee and leads the way on dozens of initiatives.

“I was trying to get my foot really in the door,” she says. “I love working with Jennifer.”

Her foot is stuck in the door now, for sure.

Big tasks Youschak-Thompson tackles include organizing the auction’s events, such as Christmas in July on the M/S Mount Washington and An Evening of Broadway at the Colonial Theatre.

She is the point person for a long list of other events, and she coordinates all the meals donated to volunteers during the auction and shepherds their delivery.

She literally spends each day engaged with auction-related tasks, from interviewing nonprofit leaders for videos played during the auction to joining Kelley on community visits to recruit sponsors and other partners.

One week, Youschak-Thompson actually took a day off.

“I feel like Jennifer and I are our own tag team,” she says. “We create things together. We make decisions together. I show up if she can’t.”

A lifetime of giving

For years, Youschak-Thompson ran a consignment shop called Too Good to Be Threw on Union Avenue. “When somebody came in with a story of need, I always gave stuff to them,” she says, adding that she gave away so many items her accountant told her to stop.

But she didn’t.

“I saw the need more, especially where the store was placed. I had a lot of walk-in customers,” she says. “I just listened to people talk, all day. There were many lonely people.”

She closed Too Good to Be Threw just before COVID became a stark reality. “It was time,” she says. “I was ready to retire.”

It’s unclear when Youschak-Thompson will retire from volunteering, though. Perhaps never.

“It makes me happy to see other people happy,” she says. “I do like the challenge, and I love giving back and not expecting anything else in return.”

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The Sunshine Effect is a new series in The Laconia Daily Sun highlighting the people and organizations working to improve our communities through volunteering and fundraising. We believe that telling their stories will encourage others to support their work, and launch new charitable efforts of their own. Have a suggestion for someone making a difference we should feature? Share it with us at laconiadailysun.com/sunshineeffecttip.