As an event staffer for Second Harvest, I am often bound to my computer and phone, or engaged in meetings with colleagues, sponsors, suppliers or committee volunteers, or in production at the event venue. I enjoy my work and the people I connect with to achieve my work goals, but it can be easy to get lost in the work itself and focus on getting my piece of the puzzle done.
The best remedy for this tunnel vision has always been to spend a day on a truck with one of our drivers. The title of “Driver” is deceptive: their role extends far beyond driving the trucks and moving food from one place to another. They embody the spirit and mandate of Second Harvest and it’s evident in the way they provide excellent customer service to our food donors, the way they are finely attuned to each agency’s particular needs, and the way they help out the office staff by picking up a money collection or a donated Auction prize while out on their routes. Each of them is a great ambassador for our mission, vision, and organizational culture of inclusion, acceptance and helping.
I had a tiny taste of their experience the Friday before Christmas and it was a day I will not soon forget. I was scheduled to go out on a truck, but our dispatcher Sam had something different in mind: when I arrived I was handed my own route sheet and told that I would be driving our little panel van around town, picking up a number of food-drive collections from companies, small offices and schools. My colleague Abby joined me, and seven hours later we had picked up about 10,000 pounds of food that would be sorted back at our warehouse, to be delivered to agencies the next morning.
It is difficult to pin down the most rewarding part of that day: was it meeting donors who were thrilled to donate food to us? Or knowing that this food would be getting to our agencies in time for Christmas? Or hoping that in doing this little route for just one day, I had helped our drivers even a fraction as much as they help thousands of hungry people every day?
Jennifer Verschraegen, Manager of Special Events and Sponsorship
