SWEETWATER COUNTY — Jessica Freeman will stand outside the Walmart for 20 hours collecting school supplies for children in need. She raises money to give foster kids a backpack for their belongings as they move around. She is the words on the other end of a text message for those experiencing a crisis. Jessica Freeman knows what it’s like to have nothing—and she does it all so they don’t have to.

That’s why the YWCA declared Freeman one of this year’s Women of Distinction, winning in the category of “Young Woman on the Move.”

Freeman earned that distinction for helping people through her career and her free time. In her professional life, she is a coordinator for Project Out, which helps people transition out of nursing homes back into the community. She also helps people who are at risk of being in a nursing home who would rather stay in their home. Freeman coordinates resources to help people across four counties.

In addition to her work with Project Out, Freeman started “Stuff the Bus” in 2011. The program raises money for children in need of school supplies. Each year, Freeman coordinates the school supply drive, spending countless hours soliciting donations and hand-making the volunteer t-shirts.

“More than 260 children received school supplies last year,” said Freeman, who said she stands outside Walmart for hours at a time to collect for those supplies.

Freeman also helps victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse. She was an AmeriCorps volunteer for two years at the YWCA, where she was an advocate for domestic violence and sexual assault victims.

She is a volunteer for the Crisis Text Line, a national organization that answers text messages for people experiencing a crisis. “People can text if they are in crisis mode. Whether that be depressed, self-harming, abused, worried about somebody else,” said Freeman.

In addition to all that, she also raises money for Sweet Cases, a program that purchases backpacks for children in foster care. “It’s so they don’t have to take their stuff from home to home in garbage bags,” said Freeman.

The person who nominated Freeman for this distinction said, “Jessica works with the defenseless in our community; emotionally neglected children, adults who have been sexually assaulted, and senior citizens who need someone to advocate for their independence.”

Freeman said she does it because “I grew up in foster care and was adopted. I know what it’s like to have nothing.”