San Antonio has been my home since 2013. Originally from East Texas, I worked at a Christian bookstore for several years. While doing that, I realized I had a heart for non-profit work. I went to college in San Marcos and drove taxis to make some extra money. After I graduated, I moved to San Antonio to look for a career. Soon after arriving in San Antonio, I was offered a position with the Salvation Army Area Command. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out long-term and I went back to my transportation industry roots working at a limo/party bus company in 2015. Though that kept me going for a while, I knew that I wanted to get back into non-profit work: I have always tried to keep a “servant’s spirit,” and I feel that in order to do my best work, I have to believe in what a company is doing. Working for a non-profit was the best way I found to do that.
Imagine my surprise when I found just the right job, on Craigslist of all places! When I saw an advertisement for a Transportation Manager position at the San Antonio Food Bank, I knew that I wanted to apply. I didn’t get the job, but the Director of Operations saw potential in me, and kept my resume. San Antonio is a very close-knit city, which is good in many ways, but it also means that sometimes who you know can take precedence over what you know when you’re looking for work. In the end, the San Antonio Food Bank saw that I was adaptable and that I had experience that would be helpful, and two months later they hired me as a Transportation Supervisor in 2016.
Transportation is the largest department of employees in the San Antonio Food Bank. As you might imagine, feeding a lot of people involves moving a lot of food to different places. We have 40 drivers, and in many ways, they are the face of the company. They have important responsibilities picking up donations and delivering food to our various distribution partners and agencies. I was tasked with making sure drivers picked up all the donations on a daily basis so the food didn’t go to waste.
Being Transportation Supervisor was tiring, but I would still be there if I hadn’t felt like I needed a new challenge. I would get into work around 6am and check emails to look for anything that would affect the plans for the day. I would then prepare routes and logistics for the next day’s deliveries and pickups. I had to memorize how much each truck could hold, physically and legally (It’s not good for the driver or our organization if a company truck gets pulled over for being overweight).
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, new challenges occurred as many of our retail partners became less comfortable having physical contact with drivers; we had to come up with solutions to keep things running. On top of those increased barriers, we also faced unprecedented demand from those in the community who had lost their jobs and needed help putting food on the table. Before the pandemic, we were serving 16 counties; we are currently serving 29. This developed when Concho Valley Food bank in San Angelo gave a distress call in April 2020. They were depleted of their inventory, overwhelmed and needed help. Transportation began running truckloads to this region, causing this increased service area as our new normal. We had to request more funds and grants to make it work, but we are adapting to meet these new needs.
Not all my challenges as Transportation Supervisor were related to the pandemic; some problems were much older than the novel Coronavirus. I would occasionally encounter drivers who didn’t want to take orders from a woman. They would rather take orders from my boss instead. I would still be respectful in those situations, but it was difficult. The pandemic was hard on everyone, but after a long year, I knew all the more that it was time for a change. This past January, when the opportunity arose to step into the role of Food & Fund Drive Coordinator in the Philanthropy department, I took it.
I really feel like God put everything in place for me to be successful as I move into this new position as Food & Fund Drive Coordinator. I worked closely with the previous Coordinator, and was already familiar with the operations/logistics side of the organization. Philanthropy has more of a “fun” element: I get to meet more people and present big checks to donors, I have experienced a number of recurring food drives, and enjoyed the new challenges of the job. I consider myself someone who never wants to let my team down. The transportation department taught me to be meticulous about getting the details right (if I didn’t, trucks didn’t go out on time and people simply didn’t get fed). Those skills have served me well, so far.
San Antonio is such a generous, philanthropic city. People learn about what we do, see the needs that exist and can’t help but want to participate. Last month, we had a ribbon cutting ceremony for our new Mays Culinary Center. It’s complete with a new state of the art venison processing plant to produce a lean protein from our Hunters for the Hungry program. We will be able to train more students in our culinary arts education program to help them get better jobs in the food industry. Sometimes we even have graduates come back and work for us to help other hungry members of the community.
Our goal at the San Antonio Food Bank this coming November is to collect a million pounds of food through community food drives. It’s a lofty goal, but I like to aim high! If you would like to help us accomplish that goal, feel free to visit https://safoodbank.org/ to find out how you can help. You can also contact me at 210-431-8310 or fooddrives@safoodbank.org. I am proud to work at the San Antonio Food Bank. If you have enjoyed my story, hopefully you’ll be inspired to join us in Fighting Hunger and Feeding Hope!
Story: Will Young, Photo Credits: Heather Stanton and Dr. Amita Shah