Many tourists dream of moving to the Mendocino Coast. Only a few are willing to put in the effort it takes to move to a place with spectacular natural beauty and no real economic base.
Phil McLaren was one of those willing to do the work needed to make the big move. I met him at the Fort Bragg Food Bank volunteering on the Friday before Christmas. McLaren has been coming for a couple of months. But before he even moved here, he scouted not only the housing market, but also the Food Bank and other non-profits to find the place where his giving back would do as much good as possible.
He not only wanted to find a place where his efforts would make a difference. He saw the community that is the Food Bank and knew this was the place. He likes how so many people from so many backgrounds come together to work hard giving food to others. He and his wife relocated from Truckee, where he worked in operations and maintenance at the airport.
“Another good thing is I’m not plowing snow right now,” he said.
We promote the Food Bank every year with our Season of Sharing series, featuring the interesting and caring people inside the Food Bank. We look at everything from the food to the financial statements posted online. But at the heart of any good (or bad) organization is its own internal culture and the community it serves and creates. It’s actually hard to avoid the strong sense of community at the Food Bank. The place moves fast and all effort and money (as we have documented in the past) goes to giving out food. It’s a big job, hard work, and a place that can be fun.
However, there is no standing around talking between the volunteers and staff. That is, except by me. No matter where I go to interview people for Season of Sharing, I get in the way. The staff and volunteers move constantly and I get relocated by smiling staff and volunteers moving fast. Of course, it doesn’t help that I’m roughly the same size as the largest Oakland Raiders offensive lineman.
One guy who I often obstruct is Robert Martinez. Martinez has spent a lifetime in grocery work, working at Safeway before being hired to drive the trucks and stock the warehouse at the Food Bank. He liked his other jobs but the community and mission at the Food Bank make the difference.
“I love doing this job,” said Martinez. “Even if I didn’t get paid, I would enjoy this place and doing what I do.”
Doug Duncan was the driver/warehouseman just a few years ago. (And we were always literally bumping into each other back then too.) He had fled corporate America and was thrilled with the opportunity to help others. We had lots of fun and laughs as we went out on the routes he drove so I could see the food as it came in. But he and his family suffered much in the years that followed.
Aggressive cancer got hold of him last year and I felt bad when I saw him. But Doug looked much better this year. His old ways of making everybody laugh were back.
“Cancer didn’t have a chance with half the town praying for me.” said Doug, who worships nearby at Calvary Chapel. Doug has faith, which, to him, means treating the cancer with the best of medical methodology too. But the most powerful healing comes from places like his church, the Food Bank and the entire community.
“We are a community here at the Food Bank too,” he said. “We are a family.”
Nancy Milano is the third longest serving volunteer at the Food Bank. She has always found tremendous power in the community she has found there. She does gift wrapping and plays the elf at annual toy give-aways, as happened last Friday. She has been particularly distressed and sad this year about the future. She says communities like those found on the Coast and in places like the Food Bank will be more important than ever going forward.
The Food Bank will need support all year long to keep up the good spirit of the holidays and to deal with threats posed by uncertainty and budget cuts to services that many rely on.
Season of Sharing donors, Dec. 20 through Dec. 29: 11 donations, $11,055 for the week from Michael and Mary Schuh, Jan Boyd, Phyllis Weeks in honor of Joe Moura and his family, Jack and Joan Carlson in honor of Arleen and Charlie Fraser, Janice and Steven Walker, Angelina Moura in memory of Joe Moura, Anonymous in honor of Robert Ivankay, Donald Meaney in honor of Yukie Holland, Susan and Mel McKinney, Ron Rosequist, Donald and Becky Strauss. Total donations to date: 34 Donations for $17,010.
Checks for the Season of Sharing can be made to the Food Bank and mailed or dropped off at 910 N. Franklin Street. Please put “Season of Sharing” on the memo line. No amount is too small, the Food Bank can stretch every dollar. Your donation will go a long way towards making the lives of your friends and neighbors better. Donor names will be printed in the following week’s edition, unless they wish to remain anonymous.
