October 7, 2024 Brittany Snow
Jeannie Bentwood, Glendora
For the last 14 years, Jeannie Bentwood has volunteered at Shepherd’s Pantry, seeing its evolution from a garage project to a non-profit organization.
Her initial involvement began after representatives attended her local church, soliciting volunteers for this new organization with goals of feeding the community – with further information on simply how to get involved.
“I thought this was something that would fit into my schedule and would be worthwhile,” Bentwood said. “It was kind of spur of the moment when I decided to sign up [to volunteer], and I’ve been here ever since.”
When she began volunteering, she was a stay-at-home mom, also involved with her children’s school and many other activities. Not to mention her roles as substitute teaching leader and class administrator for her church’s Bible Study Fellowship.
Throughout her time at the Pantry, however, she’s gone from simply volunteering to now coordinating delivery information for drivers Wednesday morning, prior to their food distribution on Wednesday afternoons.
“Giving food to people in need is of great importance,” Bentwood said. “Places like Shepherd’s Pantry can’t do it without people volunteering.”
According to Bentwood, the number of new people the organization is helping has grown little by little over the past few weeks.
“Nobody wants to sit in their car for two hours waiting before they can get a box of food,” she said. “But some people have no other choice. These people are not just a number to us, there is a story behind each person.”
Willie Del Castillo, Irwindale
Willie Del Castillo might be a newer face to Shepherd’s Pantry in Irwindale, but he already loves what he does.
Less than 10 weeks ago, his son noticed a post on social media where the Pantry shared that they were in need of volunteers. The father and son went to volunteer together, and Del Castillo stuck with it after really enjoying his first shift.
“It’s the feeling that you get when you load the groceries into peoples’ cars,” Del Castillo said. “You can see they are ever so thankful. It’s kind of a feeling that you don’t get very often with most things.”
Over the last two years, he retired from his long-time career in printing, which he had been working in since high school. He now volunteers once a week for Tuesday evening distribution.
“I like everything about [distribution],” he said. “The waiting, or even the runners coming to let us know they need help loading up someone’s car. All the people there also seem to be really good people, which I enjoy too – and I’m not a gregarious person.”
Del Castillo recognizes that the Pantry does what they can to assist their community, including the drive-thru set up for food distribution allowing families to receive enough meals for the week, eliminating the added cost of grocery shopping that may not always be an available expense to them.
“We all like to volunteer for a different reason,” he said. “I love to be able to help somebody, but everyone should feel good about what they are doing, even if it’s just once or twice.”
