St Francis food pantry volunteer experience

So, this week, I got a feel for the St Francis Food Pantry both as a volunteer and as a guest.  Friday I showed up just after nine o'clock in the morning and found Jerry (that day's volunteer coordinator.)  He immediately put me to work helping the guys unload the trucks of donated reclaimed food from local grocery stores.  We separated it between baked goods, produce, and grocery.  The donation is weighed and documented and the dry goods are sent to the aisles for the shelf stocking crew to sort it onto the shelves.

The produce is gone through to separate it to different types and is cleaned and prepped.  It is stored in the refrigerator and right before the public area is opened to that day's guests, the produce is brought back out and the produce area is stocked.  The scraps of bits that were really bruised up or really wilted is set outside in an area where local animal farmers will pick it up and feed it to pigs and chickens.

The group of people I worked with on Friday is absolutely priceless.  They were all retirees who had worked together so long that they were like family.  They razzed each other as if they were siblings, (in fact, several were); and as soon as they found out that I could take some ribbing and dish it right back, they included me in the teasing. 

There is a frantic time when all the pickup trucks of donations are being unloaded and sorted to their different areas; then we cleaned up this large empty area that had just a few pallets of food in it.  A couple of the guys who were filling me in on how the pantry works told me that that area would be filled up again before we left and this food would be distributed in the next couple of days.  Sure enough, the truck showed up from Feed My People food bank and the flurry of activity began again.  The meat was stored in the freezer right away and the buns in the refrigerator.  The non-perishables were left on the pallets in the back storage area for the shelf-stocking crew who would go through them and put them on the shelves.

The Friday crew has worked together so long that they have their own areas they work in. Each area has a system developed to make it more efficient, and they don't usually mess with each other's space.  I don't have a usual spot yet, so I just did what they told me and floated from area to area as they needed me and tried not to step on any toes.  Each area of volunteers was so willing to train a new person and give pointers on how to do things efficiently and safely that it was easy to pick up the process.

When there is a lull in the action they take a break together and have coffee and snacks.  They welcomed me right into the system of volunteering and invited me to come back again.  Whenever possible, I will join that same group--they showed that volunteering is not only fun, it keeps you young.  Having a purpose to your life is rewarding and will help you live a happier existence..