Jarzabeks receive national Head Start honors

SANDPOINT — When Janice Jarzabek gives, she does not tell.

And she and her husband, Joe, give a lot.

After winning regional and state kudos for their efforts working with Head Start, the Jarzabeks won national recognition early this month by receiving the Humanitarian of the Year Award at the 37th annual Head Start Conference in Dallas, Texas.

A few weeks later, her acquaintances had still not heard the news.

When a friend caught wind of the rumored national recognition and was told it was true, she approached Jarzabek.

“What else don’t I know about you?” she asked.

Jarzabek smiles about it.

“It’s a big deal, but it’s not about me,” she said.

“It’s about taking care of people.”

Jarzabek and her attorney husband are Susan Edward’s’ go-to people.

Edwards is the area principal for the Sandpoint and Julian Bucher Head Start centers.

When she moved into the position 14 years ago, she found Janice there waiting.

“She has donated thousands of hats, coats, gloves, not just to the Sandpoint Head Start, but to Head Start programs in Bonners Ferry and Coeur d’Alene,” Edwards said.

She also donates food for meetings, and a while back, Edwards said, during a community meeting sponsored by Head Start, Janice brought 20 large pizzas, flowers and her own table cloths.

“Janice and Joe have always helped the community,” Edwards said. “When they learned about Head Start, they embraced it.”

The Jarzabeks’ lending hand has been felt in other areas throughout the community. They are long-time supporters of Toys for Tots, Habitat for Humanity, Janice serves as a Eucharist minister at St. Joseph Catholic Church, and a decade ago the couple built an indoor skate park at their home in Ponderay.

“It became an extension of my home,” Jarzabek said. “It was open to pets, kids, whoever needed a home.”

She is also a chair of Sandpoint Films, a group of amateur film makers and in 2003 Janice, who spent three years on the Sandpoint Junior Miss board, became Mrs. Idaho International.

Jarzabek, a nurse in Moscow before marrying Joe, has delivered coats, hats and gloves to Head Start children every fall since 1996.

The items, Edwards tells, are high quality, the top of the line.

“From Macy’s,” she said.

But, let us stop there.

Jarzabek, a small woman, with a shy smile, who speaks quickly and pointedly when she lauds her husband for his pro bono work, fades when the talk turns to her and the donations that she is trying to keep confidential.

“That was supposed to be anonymous,” she said.

When she heard she and Joe won the national award, she pinched herself.

But, she didn’t pass the word.

“To me it’s about giving, and letting it roll,” she said.