LUMBERTON — The death of the Rev. Jane Esdale, executive director of the Robeson County Church and Community Center, has taken from the community one of its strongest advocates for improving the lives of the county’s poorer residents.

That was the sentiment of those who knew about Esdale and her lifelong work to help the less fortunate.

“She had a heart as big as all outdoors. She was always the champion of the downtrodden and those she perceived to have not gotten a fair shake out of life,” said Bridgit Bass, the center’s finance director. “She always wanted to believe that people could change and be the best if they were only given the chance. She would never give up on anyone.”

“That was my mother. She was always for peace and justice,” Sarah Mouwen said. “She loved this community and its people.”

Esdale, the center’s director the past four years, died Wednesday in Duke University Medical Center in Durham where she had been a patient for almost three weeks. She suffered with life-threatening ailments that included blood infections that had invaded all of her organs, her daughter said Thursday.

Esdale, 62, had worked for nonprofits for more than 20 years before taking the leadership position with Robeson County Church and Community Center. The center, with locations on West Fifth Street and in Red Springs, provides food, medical supplies, rent, utility payments and other services to poor people. The organization has no reserve funds and struggles monthly to meet its own expenses, including the cost of utilities and the salaries of six full-time employees.

“She will surely be missed in the community. She was the face of the center, especially when it came to fundraising within the community,” said Ed Wilcox, pastor of Centerville Baptist Church. “She was always smiling, even when the center was struggling financially.”

Greg Maynor, the center’s assistant director, echoed Wilcox.

“She always was smiling. I don’t think anyone who met her here ever saw her not smiling,” he said. “She was a fantastic lady. She enjoyed being around people and had a passion for her job at the center. She was a great person to be around. I’ve lost a good friend.”

The Rev. Robert Mangum, who in 1969 was the first executive director of the Church and Community Center, described Esdale as someone who “demonstrated real Christian values.”

“She was a compassionate person, a great woman,” he said. “She lived her life as a true servant of God. She had tireless energy and always worked with a vision of true optimism.”

When she took the job at the center in December 2005, Esdale told The Robesonian that in accepting the position it was as though she was answering God’s call.

“There really are a limited number of organizations that are doing what the Robeson County Church and Community Center is doing,” she said. “I feel called by God to stand in solidarity with people whose lives are assaulted by poverty. Whatever I can do to be part of the solution is what I believe God is asking me to do.”

A native of Michigan, Esdale attended seminary at the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, N.Y., where she was ordained as a Baptist minister. She started her nonprofit career by founding "a smaller" version of the church and community center in Rochester called the Cameron Community Ministries. She worked there for 13 years.

Before coming to Robeson County, she worked for more than 10 years with nonprofits in the Charlotte area, that included the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America and the Second Harvest Food Bank. She also served as a wedding minister at Wedgewood Baptist Church in Charlotte.

Despite their loss, employees at the center say that they will continue to provide services to those in need.

“That’s what Jane would want us to do,” Bass said. “She wouldn’t want us to close. She wouldn’t want people in need to miss the opportunity to receive the services we can provide.”

“ We’ll be moving forward,” Maynor said. “But we will be working with heavy hearts.”

A memorial for Esdale will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the First Baptist Church on Walnut Street. The family will receive friends in Fellowship Hall following the service.

Burial will be at a later date in Michigan.

Donations in her memory should be made to the Robeson County Church and Community Center.