Rachel Lane believes whole-heartedly in the good of humankind. She has to, or she wouldn’t work as tirelessly as those who know her say she does to offer the less fortunate a hand up.
Devoted to her faith, Lane is a longtime member of New Zion Baptist Church, where she teaches Sunday school and works frequently with the church youth alongside her husband Jason. A “go-getter” with boundless energy, Lane remains very active in her congregation, recently participating in a week-long mission trip then returning to help with Bible school for another. Lane is preparing to go with church youth to volunteer in the Bridge Ministry – a nonprofit group devoted to helping the poor and homeless in Nashville, Tenn. – as well.
Laura Westerfield, fellow church member and 20-plus year friend, said she doesn’t know how Lane finds the time to do all she does.
“I tell her all the time, ‘You’re going to wear yourself out,’” Westerfield said. “And she does get tired every once in a while, but yeah, it don’t matter what anybody ever calls to ask her to do, she goes, ‘Yeah, if it’ll help somebody.’”
The work she does within her own church is just a small percentage of what she does out in the community. Lane is a first responder, having spent more than 20 years as a paramedic at posts in Marshall, McCracken and Calloway counties. Her station has made her keenly aware of how many residents struggle to keep afloat. It was perhaps – at least in part – this reason she felt compelled to do something about it and founded 2nd Chance by Mercy, a nonprofit community outreach devoted to offering assistance to the less fortunate.
Westerfield, who also volunteers in the organization, said the group under Lane’s direction has worked to bring a number of assistance programs to life. The ministry operates a clothing closet open to the public every Thursday and one Saturday a month at 1202 Poplar St. in Benton, providing free clothing and basic necessities to the less fortunate. The group has also initiated coat and shoe drives and coordinates regularly with the school Family Resource Centers to stock supplies for children. The group was also responsible for construction and placement of tiny food pantries throughout the county.
For everything effort set into motion, Westerfield said Lane is the source or driving force behind it and its success.
“She’s constantly trying to think of something new to help somebody,” Westerfield said. “… I think (her work as an EMT) is where the idea started. She’s said she would go to a person’s house and they would have nothing.Their kids would have nothing, and she just couldn’t stand it. She’d say ‘Where do they go to get help? What do they do?’”
Fellow 2nd chance volunteer Karen Freeman said Lane had a compassion for others that many didn’t understand. It comes from personal experience, she said, and the want to help others through example.
“She just has a servant’s heart,” Freeman said. “… I think it’s because Jesus changed her life so much that she just can’t help but share, because she wants other people to feel that difference that he can make. She just goes and goes, and donates her time and money. I know if I picked up the phone and needed her, she would be there in a heartbeat, no matter what was going on.”
Women who need help getting back on their feet hold a special place in Lane’s heart, Freeman said, prompting her to volunteer with the jail ministry. Friends said Lane had struggled with her own past, but had overcome through her faith and family. Now, she makes it her mission to help bring others to the same place of peace.
“A lady needed to furnish a house before she could get her children back,” Freeman said. “So, Rachel went out of her way, took off work to coordinate the donations and then to actually get physical help … to move the furniture. It’s almost like you think it’s going to affect her if she doesn’t do it. And I know she had to coordinate multiple times, because the girl canceled on her a couple times. So, her willingness to keep on when most people would give up … I can think of multiple times I’ve been amazed by her.”
Lane passes her message on through an inspirational blog she writes and brings guest authors in to contribute, as well.
In addition to her training and work as an EMT, Lane also went back to school, earning her license as an aesthetician. She works providing services at Grace and Body in Benton. Tiffany Carlson, who initially came to know Lane several years ago through various different connections, said it was a choice that suited her well. Lane, she said, had an outgoing, bubbly personality and she made it a priority to make those around her feel good about themselves. Carlson said Lane put her talents as an aesthetician to work, coordinating an initiative to help a handful of local girls attend the prom when they would not have been able to do so. Carlson said Lane managed to get prom dresses donated to the girls and get their hair fixed for the occasion. Lane herself did their makeup, topping off the special occasion.
“She has a big heart, and she wants to help everybody that she possibly can,” Carlson said. “If she can’t do it, then she’s looking to her network of friends and church members. … Those girls didn’t have to pay for anything. She’s all about community and helping.”
She doesn’t do it for attention or accolades, though. Carlson said Lane would much rather stay out of the spotlight, preferring for the attention to go toward the work itself instead. And she doesn’t mind rolling up her sleeves to get the work done.
“She’s a girly-girl,” Carlson said. “Because her hair and makeup are always done; I’ve never run into her when she’s not completely put together, but in the same sense, she’s ready to jump in and get her hands dirty. … Not everybody always tries to help the less fortunate. You know we always say we will or we’re going to and for whatever reason we don’t. I think she’s making it her mission to help … and I think that speaks volumes to her character.”
Just as devoted as she is to her faith, her job and her community, Lane is equally committed to her family. Westerfield said Lane made her family a priority, working to pass the lessons of Christ and being a good steward of the community on to her daughter. Westerfield said Lane brought her daughter to help volunteer, fostering the same joy in selflessness as she herself experiences.
“She wants others to see Jesus in her,” Westerfield said. “ … That’s whether it’s her family or a friend or somebody on the street.”
Westerfield said Lane was a good friend, a good person and worked to show it daily. She’s thankful to know her and for the person that Lane is.
“She’s a good friend to a lot of people. She worries about your heart,” Westerfield said. “… Every time you see her it’s a hug and I love you. … She shows her heart everyday. You know she loves you, because it doesn’t bother her to tell you that.
“I love her,” Westerfield added. “We say that a lot. … I know she’s got my back, and I’ve got hers.”