Volunteer Of The Month: For Karen Fox, Giving Back Is A Family Matter

“We can’t change the world, but we can help one family at a time.”

This simple yet powerful truth is what Severna Park resident Karen Fox hoped to convey to her four boys by getting her whole family involved in serving their community many years ago.

For roughly 15 years, Fox has supported Severna Park-based SPAN’s (Serving People Across Neighborhoods) Holiday Caring program, which invites community members to sponsor area families in need with meals for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas, as well as Christmas gifts for their children.

Along with her husband, Steve, and their four sons, who all graduated from Severna Park High School (SPHS) and range in age from 18 to 25, Fox has not only sponsored meals and gifts but also helped with the distribution of both for many years.

Whether shopping for groceries or gifts, wrapping presents, dropping off donations or helping distribute items on pickup days, Fox has tried to involve her sons at every level. She recalled taking them to purchase a coat for a child one year, noting that it’s hard for some kids to process that there may be a family in their community who cannot afford to buy a coat for their child.

“It’s just a really heartwarming service that SPAN provides, and it’s actually so eye-opening how prevalent the need is – even here in the land of 21146,” Fox said. “I always wanted my kids to realize that just because you guys have a full stomach three meals a day and a very blessed life where you have, really, no true need, five minutes up the road there are kids who are not so fortunate.”

A firm believer in giving back to her community, Fox has also served as a sports team mom many times over, functioned as treasurer for SPHS’ Falcon Athletic Boosters Club, and helped the homeless through Giving Back, Linda’s Legacy.

When their boys were young, Steve helped coach their Green Hornets teams, so Fox figured she might as well be the team mom. She planned parties, coordinated snacks and much more. She continued to be involved with her boys’ sports teams during their time at SPHS, and she ultimately filled the role of treasurer for the boosters for the past few years.

She began as treasurer in 2020 when schools were closed due to COVID, which gave her the opportunity to assess how things were done and bring about helpful updates. A bookkeeper by profession, Fox took the boosters’ accounting methods from paper and pen to more efficient online and automated practices. As her youngest son’s 2024 SPHS graduation day approached, she began to look for a new volunteer to whom she could hand over the reins. Early in the 2024-2025 academic year, Fox began training a qualified new treasurer and has been telling people, “She’s going to do a better job than me!”

Fox and her family volunteered for many years with another Severna Park-based nonprofit — Giving Back, Linda’s Legacy (GBLL) — as well. GBLL supports people experiencing homelessness in the Anne Arundel County, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., area with meals, clothing and other necessities through a holiday drive. Fox recalled making hundreds of fleece scarves with her boys while watching football, preparing countless bagged lunches as a family, and distributing backpacks with socks, toiletries, food and more around Baltimore to those in need on Christmas Eve.

Now that her boys are either in college or off living on their own, Fox noted that there are fewer opportunities to volunteer regularly as a whole family. But that will not stop them from coming alongside a local family this month to sponsor their Thanksgiving and Christmas meals and Christmas gifts through SPAN.

“I will go the extra mile for (them) to ensure they have a wonderful holiday season, as best as I can,” Fox said.