Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own. 

To be honest, I felt the loss of these opportunities when I left college and entered the full-time workforce in a brand-new city. I felt that I had skills to contribute to someone or something, but after moving and just trying to get used to my first job, I didn’t know who or how I could help. So, I settled into the work of being myself and getting to know the people and places around me. For me, that looked like making friends at work, joining a church, volunteering with different community organizations, and exploring Akron, OH with my husband.

Food pantry boxes and cans

I’ll spare you the details of what the first 7 months of the pandemic were like for me, but suffice it to say that by October 2020 I was ready for a project and ready to get out of my apartment! That’s when my husband and I got a call from our parish Priest about a beautiful, uncertain, and humbling opportunity. We were asked to take on the volunteer leadership role of managing our parish’s food pantry as it reopened after being closed since March 2020. The food pantry is a ministry we have always loved helping with, but we weren’t sure we were ready to take on the responsibility of managing a 30+ year old ministry that had been led by the same people for the last 13 years!

There were some key things we didn’t know that made the decision a little unnerving. First, we weren’t given a defined list of the responsibilities or expectations for leaders managing the food pantry (no ‘job description’!). Second, we didn’t know all the processes and people it took to run the pantry…let alone how best to operate with new protocols and ensure the safety of volunteers and clients due to COVID-19! But, in the midst of these unknowns, we did know that the pantry needed to continue to serve the community. We also knew that we had plenty of time to learn new things and that we had an incredibly active set of core volunteers to support us. So in the end, we said yes to managing the pantry. 

By God’s grace, we’ve been managing the pantry for about a year now. It hasn’t been easy, but it also hasn’t been overwhelmingly difficult. In short, this journey has been an incredible opportunity to grow in faith, humility, and as a servant leader. Speaking of grace, something that the previous pantry manager told us as we were transitioning into the leadership role was that “God always provides what is needed”. We have seen this play out every month in one way or another, even as unexpected challenges present themselves.

For instance, when we needed a delivery truck driver to pick-up our orders from the foodbank, it turned out that one of our volunteers had been a delivery truck driver in Akron in his college years, so he was happy to navigate through snowy city streets with a U-Haul full of food. (I don’t know what I would have done without a capable truck driver!) Another aspect that always works out is how many volunteers we have for any given event. When I worry that we might be short-handed for a distribution, it often turns out that fewer clients end up coming by anyway. And the times we end up having more clients than usual, we always have volunteers show up that we didn’t know were coming! And then of course there is the food itself. The foodbank always has wonderful fresh items for us to provide to our clients, and we have never run out of food during a distribution.

Hard at work in the pantry

Finally, the volunteers we get to work with, in this ministry have been absolute blessings. They have given us room to shake things up and use our unique skills (i.e. computers, Excel, and process improvement methods). They have also been incredibly reliable and willing to jump in whenever we need help. Most of all, our volunteers show genuine care and respect for the people served by this ministry and are always making sure we keep what is best for our community at the forefront. We are learning so much from our fellow volunteers.

So, to all of you out there considering taking a measured risk and becoming a volunteer leader, I offer you these points of encouragement:

1. Remember to include positive “unknowns” on your list of uncertainties.
Uncertainty is challenging for all of us. Sometimes I think it can help to frame uncertainty as a possibility. Some helpful questions to ask yourself are “What if we succeed?” “What can I bring to this leadership role that will help evolve the organization for the best?” “Who can I learn from to help me grow into this role and how might my life be better for it?”

2. Remember that it is okay to ask for help and to not know exactly what you are doing.
Leaders don’t have to know how to do everything required to run an organization. Leaders should realize when they don’t know something and seek advice from those with experience when possible. In a long-running organization, this can look like asking a seasoned volunteer for help understanding a process. The volunteer will likely appreciate your honesty and the fact that you trust them enough to ask for their help.

3. Remember that you will not be alone in your mission.
Where there is a volunteer group to be led, there is a group of people who want to see your organization succeed in its mission. You can and should leverage these people, their ideas, and their talents when delegating to get the work done.

I strongly believe that getting comfortable with the three points above will set you up for success as a volunteer leader as you lead through your own beautiful, uncertain, and humbling endeavors. My challenge to you now is to be BRAVE and GO FOR IT!

Public Service Announcement:
If you or someone you know is out of work, struggling to make ends meet, or just having a hard time paying the bills and saving for the future, The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) may be able to help. Each state determines its own qualification criteria for households, but you can click the link above to learn about the specifics in your state.

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

Volunteer leadership is a beautiful, uncertain, and humbling thing. Through my high school and college years, I was blessed to have many volunteer leadership opportunities through school groups and professional organizations. Each opportunity brought new experiences and broader responsibilities. I found great joy in both the personal growth I experienced and in what my friends and I were able to accomplish together in these groups.

To be honest, I felt the loss of these opportunities when I left college and entered the full-time workforce in a brand-new city. I felt that I had skills to contribute to someone or something, but after moving and just trying to get used to my first job, I didn’t know who or how I could help. So, I settled into the work of being myself and getting to know the people and places around me. For me, that looked like making friends at work, joining a church, volunteering with different community organizations, and exploring Akron, OH with my husband.

pantry boxes and cans 

*Enter the COVID-19 Global Pandemic*

I’ll spare you the details of what the first 7 months of the pandemic were like for me, but suffice it to say that by October 2020 I was ready for a project and ready to get out of my apartment! That’s when my husband and I got a call from our parish Priest about a beautiful, uncertain, and humbling opportunity. We were asked to take on the volunteer leadership role of managing our parish’s food pantry as it reopened after being closed since March 2020. The food pantry is a ministry we have always loved helping with, but we weren’t sure we were ready to take on the responsibility of managing a 30+ year old ministry that had been led by the same people for the last 13 years!

There were some key things we didn’t know that made the decision a little unnerving. First, we weren’t given a defined list of the responsibilities or expectations for leaders managing the food pantry (no ‘job description’!). Second, we didn’t know all the processes and people it took to run the pantry…let alone how best to operate with new protocols and ensure the safety of volunteers and clients due to COVID-19! But, in the midst of these unknowns, we did know that the pantry needed to continue to serve the community. We also knew that we had plenty of time to learn new things and that we had an incredibly active set of core volunteers to support us. So in the end, we said yes to managing the pantry.

By God’s grace, we’ve been managing the pantry for about a year now. It hasn’t been easy, but it also hasn’t been overwhelmingly difficult. In short, this journey has been an incredible opportunity to grow in faith, humility, and as a servant leader. Speaking of grace, something that the previous pantry manager told us as we were transitioning into the leadership role was that “God always provides what is needed”. We have seen this play out every month in one way or another, even as unexpected challenges present themselves.

For instance, when we needed a delivery truck driver to pick-up our orders from the foodbank, it turned out that one of our volunteers had been a delivery truck driver in Akron in his college years, so he was happy to navigate through snowy city streets with a U-Haul full of food. (I don’t know what I would have done without a capable truck driver!) Another aspect that always works out is how many volunteers we have for any given event. When I worry that we might be short-handed for a distribution, it often turns out that fewer clients end up coming by anyway. And the times we end up having more clients than usual, we always have volunteers show up that we didn’t know were coming! And then of course there is the food itself. The foodbank always has wonderful fresh items for us to provide to our clients, and we have never run out of food during a distribution.

hard work at the pantry

Finally, the volunteers we get to work with in this ministry have been absolute blessings. They have given us room to shake things up and use our unique skills (i.e. computers, Excel, and process improvement methods). They have also been incredibly reliable and willing to jump in whenever we need help. Most of all, our volunteers show genuine care and respect for the people served by this ministry and are always making sure we keep what is best for our community at the forefront. We are learning so much from our fellow volunteers.

So, to all of you out there considering taking a measured risk and becoming a volunteer leader, I offer you these points of encouragement:

1. Remember to include positive “unknowns” on your list of uncertainties.
Uncertainty is challenging for all of us. Sometimes I think it can help to frame uncertainty as a possibility. Some helpful questions to ask yourself are “What if we succeed?” “What can I bring to this leadership role that will help evolve the organization for the best?” “Who can I learn from to help me grow into this role and how might my life be better for it?”

2. Remember that it is okay to ask for help and to not know exactly what you are doing.
Leaders don’t have to know how to do everything required to run an organization. Leaders should realize when they don’t know something and seek advice from those with experience when possible. In a long-running organization, this can look like asking a seasoned volunteer for help understanding a process. The volunteer will likely appreciate your honesty and the fact that you trust them enough to ask for their help.

3. Remember that you will not be alone in your mission.
Where there is a volunteer group to be led, there is a group of people who want to see your organization succeed in its mission. You can and should leverage these people, their ideas, and their talents when delegating to get the work done.

I strongly believe that getting comfortable with the three points above will set you up for success as a volunteer leader as you lead through your own beautiful, uncertain, and humbling endeavors. My challenge to you now is to be BRAVE and GO FOR IT!

Public Service Announcement:
If you or someone you know is out of work, struggling to make ends meet, or just having a hard time paying the bills and saving for the future, The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) may be able to help. Each state determines its own qualification criteria for households, but you can click the link above to learn about the specifics in your state.

She / Her / Hers 

Senior Business Analyst | The J.M. Smucker Co.

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