Jean Duff has been a dedicated and long-time volunteer for many community organizations on the Monterey Peninsula. In 1995, she became a member of Friends of Hospice, a group of 700 volunteers working together to raise funds for hospice care in Monterey and San Benito counties (California). Mrs. Duff served as president of Friends from 1997 to 1999, a period in which the group raised a total of $304,000 for hospice patient care.

Even before her involvement with Friends, Jean was for many years a patient care volunteer for Hospice of the Central Coast (today a program of Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula). She assisted patients and their families in their homes and at the Hospice Resource Center and is today a vigil captain for the hospice program. In addition to her hospice work, Jean is a volunteer in Community Hospital’s Comprehensive Cancer Center library and with the hospital’s auxiliary. Jean joined the Hospice Foundation board of directors in 1999 and was elected president in July, 2001, for a two-year term. During that time, she managed the harvest-time raffle Gobblers & Gifts, and served on the board’s Programs and Grants Committee, as chair of the Development and Governance Committees, and on the Strategic Planning Task Force. She will continue as a member of the Hospice Giving Foundation’s Development Committee and Strategic Planning Implementation Committees. To recognize her tireless commitment in support of hospice care, Jean was given the Foundation’s Helen Westland Award in 2003, and the Kendall Inspiration Award in 2006. She was named emeritus to the board of directors in 2006.