“Warm and welcoming,” is how our Saturday volunteers are described. And the best part? They are teenagers.
That’s right! Every Saturday from 8:30 am – 12:15 pm, teenagers ranging in age from 12-18 years old staff the food bank to serve our visitors. They set up the food stations, check in visitors, distribute food and then clean everything up. And they have fun doing it. “The kids who come here want to be here,” says Stephen Rosales, Sequim Food Bank board member, who supervises the teen volunteers. Many of them volunteer all four years of high school and inspire their friends and siblings to volunteer.
The Big Five Begins the Tradition
The program started in 2009, when Stephen, who ran the Saturday distribution, found himself with no volunteers one weekend. He rounded up his daughter and her friends and now refers to them as “the Big Five.” Mollie, Anna, Samantha, Alyssa and Ashley went on to volunteer every Saturday for the next four years. “they were here like clockwork,” says Stephen. Soon, their friends and even siblings joined the team until Stephen was able to build an all-teenager volunteer staff. “We kicked the adults out” because the teens were doing such a great job!” he says. (There are still two adults every weekend to supervise and work with the teens.) Many of the teens have built lifelong friendships and learned valuable lessons from volunteering at the food bank.
“The food bank was so influential for me. It gave us responsibility and we learned how to interact in the real world before we were old enough for jobs. Helping people there made me want to help others in a broader way, so I went into health care.”
said Alyssa Habner, now an R.N. who is prepping to take her Nurse Practitioner boards this year.
Family Joins the Team
Alyssa’s younger brother, Caden, also volunteers at the Sequim Food Bank. He started 10 years ago and is now a senior at Eastern University, where he studies design. On a Saturday in April, he was home for the weekend and rolled out of bed at 8:00 am to join his friends at the food bank. Caden says that he used to be shy, but volunteering at the food bank taught him to talk to people and as he became more comfortable around people, he built relationships with co-workers and visitors. Asked why he volunteers, Caden says: “I’m not completely sure why, but it feels good…”
Meeting Friends in a New Town
Mark Adrian-Dulfo moved to Sequim in 2020 from the Philippines. As the new kid in town, he had no way to meet friends during COVID isolation. He met Stephen at the Boys & Girls club, when Stephen made a presentation about the food bank. Mark was 13 when he started volunteering. “I was shy, and rarely talked to people I didn’t know,” he said. Today, Mark calls himself “the meat guy,” which means he greets every visitor and talks to them about their protein choices. “I’m more confident, more friendly and learned to communicate with people. I’ve made friends and I enjoy coming every Saturday.”
Lessons Learned Light the Way
Jessica, a long time volunteer on Saturdays at the food bank, graduated from the University of Washington in 2020 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. She now works as a Project Engineer on rocket engine development. “Stephen made community service so much fun at the food bank,” she said. “I am grateful for the lessons it taught me at a young age, and it has encouraged me to seek volunteering opportunities…”
Karen Chan, who also graduated from the University of Washington in 2020, says, “from shredding events to food drives to Saturday food distributions, I cannot remember not being involved at the Sequim food bank.” Inspired by the experience, she received a B.A. in business administration and is currently working as a Human Resources Consultant for a non-profit. “For me, it really cultivated the sense of community and instilled a value of service that I still carry today.”
People sometimes think that the food bank is just about food, and that the visitors are the only ones who gain from the experience. But the Saturday volunteers teach us that the food bank is so much more