In the five months since Jane DuBose became an active member of Junior Auxiliary, she has made a leap even the Easter Bunny would envy — from newbie to chairman of the chapter’s Easter egg hunt committee.

Natchez’s J.A. chapter has hosted an Easter egg hunt for six years, first as a community-wide event and now as a special treat for children of the Guardian Shelter, a shelter for victims of abuse; the Sunshine Shelter; and the Oak Towers apartment complex.

&uot;The best part is seeing how much the kids enjoy it,&uot;&160;DuBose said. &uot;They’ll run up and hug your neck, they just appreciate it so much.&uot;

That’s why DuBose, a language arts teacher at Cathedral Middle School, said yes when she was asked one month ago to head the committee.

Since then, she and other volunteers have stuffed 1,500 plastic eggs with candy and other surprises and have filled Easter baskets that will be given to each child at the event, which will be held April 22.

The children will enjoy a lunch furnished by McDonald’s and will take part in carnival games like the ring toss. The children will also get to have their picture taken with the Easter Bunny, DuBose said.

In addition to her work with the Easter egg hunt, DuBose has taken part in several other volunteer activities during her time with J.A.

Those activities included helping with a vision and hearing screening at Natchez Mall and a shrimp boil that is one of the chapter’s biggest annual fund raisers.

She also worked with the Angel Tree program, which collects Christmas gifts for needy children, and more recently with the chapter’s recent fund-raising race, rounding up teenage volunteers and doing other tasks as needed.