Good from Bad

Today was a tough day for me at the food bank. Not only did we move this week and are still working out the kinks, but we have been really busy each day, with about twice as many people each day as we normally serve. We served 200 households this week, when we've been serving about 100. I've been told to expect more of the same for the next two months.


Most of today I felt like I was being pulled in several directions at the same time. I think I said "I haven't forgotten you" about six times to different people. The phone was ringing constantly and half the callers just wanted to chat, so I had to walk that fine line of getting off the phone quickly while allowing them to feel heard. At one point I was so frustrated I had to take a five minute walk away from the site.


I did feel really supported by the volunteers today. This is a crew I don't know as well as I know the weekday crews because we don't have service every Saturday. But when I was walking out I told one of them he was in charge and when I came back he was handling a parking situation, a job I usually would have done (as paid staff, the Food Bank Director or I usually play the heavy). He and three others checked in with me to make sure I was okay.

Best of all, five volunteers stayed until I locked up the building and even walked with me to my car. Again, I really felt supported by the volunteers, and when I called the FBD he was just as supportive as they. So as frustrating as work was today was, what I'm feeling is appreciation and gratitude for my food bank people.