Our Driver Shares His Love for GBFB
Our most tenured team member, Senior Lead Driver Juan Encarnacion, shares his struggles with 2020, but also why he has worked at The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) delivering food for nearly three decades:
Every morning at 6.a.m I roar into the GBFB parking lot on my motorcycle and arrive on site with pride ready to start the day. What eats at me though is that after 29 years of working with a mission to end hunger here, hunger hasn’t gone away. I’ve delivered millions of pounds of food, yet people are still going hungry. With this pandemic, it’s only gotten worse.
Back in 1991, I was unemployed and struggling to keep up with my $600 rent and support my family. I just needed a job. I came to GBFB because I needed work, but I’ve stayed because it has become more than a job. Coming to work at the food bank every day gives me purpose – and my team has become an extension of my family.
When I walk in the warehouse, I’m surrounded by GBFB Team Members who are up, like me, before the first light of morning, giving it our all and coming back the next day to do it all again. The work is physical, exhausting and feels never-ending. But we all know that we are the bridge between hungry families and nutritious food.
There is a long road ahead of us, but we just need to keep driving.
