Pam has been volunteering at the St. Louis Area Foodbank for nine years. She always has a positive attitude and a willingness to help out where she’s needed. When we interviewed Pam, she was 
so excited to share her experience. Read more to learn more about her hobbies and her experiences volunteering!
How long have you volunteered at SLAFB?
For 9 years. It’s nine years since September 28, 2010. We came with my dad’s old work and I’ve liked it ever since.
What did you do the first time you volunteered in the Volunteer Center?
We did the assembly line and I did stickers. It’s funny because when I did stickers, that was all I would ever do. I would just do stickers the entire time we came here until one day, DJ, one of the leads here, came and said “Why don’t we try something different?” and I’m not good with change, so I’m like “Oh dear”
But since then, I don’t care what Trish and Tonya make me do. I’m like, “I’ll do it!” You’ll never hear me say no.
What’s your favorite project in the VC?
I like the assembly line because I get to work in the back. They have the pallet jacks back there and I get to break down boxes. But any time they need to push something forward, I’m like, “I’ll do it!” because I like to do the pallet jack, especially.
What do you like about volunteering?
I just like helping out others because a lot of times they really need someone to help them out. And a lot of times I just need something to do. I’m not the kind of person who likes to stand around and do absolutely nothing. I’m the one who likes to be busy, busy, busy.
Do you volunteer anywhere else?
I volunteer with my trainer for Easter Seals at Saint Mary’s Hospital, we do escorts and phone calls at the front desk.
What do you do in your spare time?
When it’s nice weather outside, Dad and I like to disc golf. We had a Christmas a few years ago and Mom and Dad were like, “we have one more surprise for you” and I’m like, “Ok, what is it this time?” and Mom’s like, “Look out the back door window” and I gasped – they bought me a basket! At one of the disc golf places, so now every spring or summer, you know, we now go out and I said, “Ok, Dad, we need the basket” and he says “Ok, let’s take it outside”. We just play, like, HORSE or CAT, you know, to practice. I beat him sometimes.
I also write sermons for my pastor. I want to someday maybe become a pastor like he is, so I said, “How ‘bout I write sermons and you see how they look?” and he said OK, so I wrote the first one and he said, “This is really nice, I’d like for you to do more” so now I’m up to 25. I’ve been doing it for the past couple years. I write them, I type them, I send them to him and he just gives me feedback. I’ve actually preached with him before in church.
Do you have any specific memory in our VC that means a lot to you?
We did a project, I think it was last August, and it was cans that had no labels on them, so we were putting labels on them. And it was in the big, cardboard gaylords and my trainer, Randall, said, “I don’t know if you can pull and push that with the pallet jack” and I asked how much it weighed and he said, “About fifteen hundred pounds” and I actually pulled and pushed eight of those fifteen hundred pound pallets!
I told my parents and my family about it and they were like, “You did what?!” They didn’t believe me, but it’s true. I got to pull and push eight of those fifteen hundred pound pallets. It was a little bit different, but once I got it going, I thought it was easy.
Was there anything about the Foodbank’s mission that struck a chord with you?
My church, we support a food pantry called T.E.A.M. and we have a barrel inside, so we put food in it and then a couple of members from our church go and they work at TEAM. We’ve helped them in the past and we still do it now, but then we’ve also done, like, another thing called Jesus Love Feast, and it’s like the same thing. We help give them clothes and food and, you know, stuff like that, so it’s kind of like the Foodbank. You help out those who are in need.
I used to not understand it when I was younger, but when you grow up and see it a lot of times, it’s like “Ok, I need to do something about it right now”
To learn more about how you can make a difference like Pam, check out our Get Involved page.
