Skip to main content

ACCC Volunteer Spotlight: Enrique

 



Hello ACCC Community Members!

Welcome to ACCC's brand new blog. Here you can expect to find resources, wellness tips, as well as interviews with important community members. 

Today, we've included the transcript from our first volunteer spotlight (in both English and Spanish!). We interviewed Enrique, a dedicated volunteer at ACCC's food pantry. If you're interested in getting involved with ACCC's food pantry, please sign up here!

Audio Transcript (English)


ACCC Intern: “OK, so today we're here with Enrique, an ACCC volunteer. Thank you so much for talking with us Enrique, and thank you for all of your work at ACCC. Do you mind sharing a little bit about yourself for the podcast listeners?” 


Enrique: “Of course, so it's a pleasure to be here. Where do I start? So I am a fourth year student at UCLA, about to finish this June, hopefully. I might take summer classes depending on if I need a class or not. Yeah, that's it. 


ACCC Intern: “Thank you for the introduction. How long have you been volunteering at ACCC?”


Enrique: “I started the 30th of August of 2020, so roughly about what? Like half a year now, a little more.”


ACCC Intern: “Awesome. And can you tell us what you typically do at ACC?”

Enrique: “Of course, so depends on the days, but typically like during a Tuesday, I basically get the food boxes ready, organizing the appropriate foods for the day. Then you give them out to the clients as they pass by and collect their paperwork. In the pandemic too, you know how it goes up and down, we see spikes here and there.” 

ACCC Intern: “How has the pandemic changed procedures? Have you noticed anything, you know, do we do something extra for those spikes?”

Enrique: “The spikes tend to influence how many people actually show up. People tend to be more cautious when like there's a spike, so there's like maybe less people. But in terms of everything else, it kind of remains the same. We take a lot of the same precautions.” 

ACCC Intern: “Good. That makes sense and you know it sounds like you guys do a lot of hand washing and hand sanitizing and wearing your gloves and that sort of thing.” 

Enrique: “Yep.”

ACCC Intern: “What do you find most rewarding about volunteering at ACCC?”

Enrique: “Oh, for me, just the entire process. I've always wanted to volunteer at a food bank, and so I finally got around to doing so last year. This type of work I find really, really rewarding. And also, just it's also very enjoyable, because you get to meet so many different people not just the community, but also the volunteers. Some of them are new ones, like people that only sign up for a day, or some people stick around for a while. These are people from all walks of life that you get to like you get the privilege of working with and just like getting to know.” 

ACCC Intern: “It sounds like it’s a good source of community. What about ACCC kept bringing you back?”


Enrique: “It was precisely that. I grew fond of the community. Both again like volunteers and clients, and I just really liked it.”


ACCC Intern: “Do you have any ideas for expanding ACCC? Specifically the food pantry. Do you have any recommendations moving forward?”


Enrique: “The major thing I’ve noticed is that oftentimes even when you're fully stocked after like an hour, all the food will go out. So the only thing that comes to mind is like maybe finding like more storage rooms to have more food available for distribution.”


ACCC Intern: “That makes sense. Yeah, it can be challenging to find space at the facility when there's so much food. Have you noticed any common concerns in the community? Maybe it's about the pandemic or just anything in general when you're distributing food.” 


Enrique: “Um. Nothing much. Nothing too much. There is like concern about the pandemic. Like, you'll see some people like as a pull up, they will have the back seat of the car covered in plastic so, they take precautions and they go they also have their PPE on. So there is that concern but, yeah that's the main thing I’ve noticed.” 


ACCC Intern: “Got it. Well thank you so much Enrique for being our guest today and we really appreciate all the work that you do for ACCC!”


Enrique: My pleasure!


Audio Transcript (Spanish) 


ACCC Intern: "Bien, hoy estamos aquí con Enrique el es voluntario de ACCC, y muchas gracias por hablar con nosotros Enrique, y gracias por todo tu trabajo en ACCC. ¿Te importaría compartir un poco sobre ti para los oyentes de podcasts?"

 

Enrique: "Por supuesto, es un placer estar aquí. Por dónde empiezo, soy un estudiante del último año en UCLA, a punto de terminar este junio, con suerte, tomaré clases de verano dependiendo de si necesito un salón de clases o. Si eso es." 

 

ACCC Intern: "¿Y cuánto tiempo llevas trabajando como voluntario en ACCC?" 

 

Enrique: "Comencé mi primera asignación el 30 de agosto de 2020, así que aproximadamente medio año ahora, un poco más."

 

ACCC Intern: "Increíble. ¿Y puede decirnos qué hace normalmente en ACCC?"

 

Enrique: "Por supuesto, depende de los días, pero por lo general es como durante un martes. Básicamente se trataba de preparar las cajas de comida, como organizar las comidas apropiadas para el día y luego enviarlas o dárselas a los clientes cuando pasan y recogemos su papeleo." 

 

ACCC Intern: "Y cómo estamos en una pandemia, sabes cómo vemos picos aquí y allá, ¿Cómo ha cambiado eso los procedimientos? ¿Ha notado algo? ¿Hacemos algo extra por aquellos una vez que tenemos más picos o algo así?"

 

Enrique: "Los picos tienden a influir en la cantidad de personas que realmente aparecen, supongo. No sé si la gente tiende a ser más cautelosa cuando hay un pico, así que tal vez hay menos gente. Pero en términos de todo lo demás permanece igual con el sensor en sí es como tomar las mismas precauciones."


ACCC Intern: "Bueno. Eso tiene sentido y saben que parece que ustedes se lavan y desinfectan mucho las manos y usan sus guantes y ese tipo de cosas."


Enrique: "Si."


ACCC Intern: "¿Qué le resulta más gratificante del voluntariado en ACCC?"


Enrique: "Oh, para mí, todo el proceso. Siempre quise ser voluntario en un banco de alimentos, así que finalmente pude hacerlo el año pasado. Entonces, no quiero llegar tarde a ese tipo de trabajo que encuentro realmente gratificante. Y también, es muy agradable, porque puedes conocer a tantas personas diferentes no solo, como conocer a la comunidad, sino también como los voluntaries. Algunos de ellos son como muchos nuevos, como personas que solo se registran por un día o como la gente que dice que te quedes por un tiempo. Y estas son personas de todos los ámbitos de la vida con las que te gusta, tienes el privilegio de trabajar y simplemente te gusta conocer."


ACCC Intern: "¿Qué pasa con ACCC que te trajo de vuelta?"


Enrique: "Fue precisamente así como me encariñé con la comunidad. A los dos, nuevamente me gustan los voluntarios y los clientes, y me gustó mucho."


ACCC Intern: "¿Tiene alguna idea para expandir ACCC? Precisamentela la despensa de alimentos. ¿Tiene alguna recomendación para avanzar?"


Enrique: "Lo más importante que he notado es que a menudo, incluso cuando estás completamente abastecido después de una hora, toda la comida se apaga. Entonces, lo único que me viene a la mente es, tal vez, encontrar más almacenes para tener más alimentos disponibles para su distribución." 


ACCC Intern: "Eso tiene sentido. Sí, puede ser un desafío encontrar espacio en las instalaciones cuando hay tanta comida. ¿Ha notado alguna preocupación común en la comunidad? Tal vez se trate de la pandemia o simplemente de cualquier cosa en general cuando distribuye alimentos." 

 

Enrique: "Um. No mucho. Nada demasiado. Existe una preocupación similar por la pandemia. Al igual que, verás a algunas personas tendrán el asiento trasero del auto cubierto de plástico, así que toman precauciones y también tienen por supuesto su PPE. Así que existe esa preocupación, pero sí, eso es lo principal que he notado."

 

ACCC Intern: "Entendido. Bueno, muchas gracias Enrique por ser nuestro invitado hoy y realmente apreciamos todo el trabajo que haces para ACCC."

 

Enrique: "El gusto es mio."

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What Is Anger Management?

  Have you ever gotten angry and done something you've regretted? Maybe you've taken out your anger about work or finances on your kids. Maybe you've gotten so mad that you've broken household objects. Or maybe you've bottled up anger for months or years, and it just seems to explode when you can't hold it in anymore. If any of these situations sound familiar, anger management might be something for you to consider. What Is Anger Management? According to the Mayo Clinic , anger management is learning to recognize the signs when you're becoming angry and learning steps you can take to calm down so you can deal with your anger in an appropriate and productive way.  Just as important as it is to know what anger management  is , it's also important to know what it is  not . Anger management is not about getting rid of your anger, pretending it's not there, or judging ourselves for experiencing anger. Emotions themselves aren't good or bad, they'r

What Is Anger Management and Could I Benefit From It?

It's no secret that many of us struggle to feel (and identify!) our feelings. For many of us, one emotion is more difficult than the rest—anger. Anger is an uncomfortable emotion for a lot of us, but can sometimes cause the most damage. But here's the good news, when you learn to handle anger in a healthy way, it can actually lead to positive change in your life! What Is Anger Management? Contrary to popular belief, the goal of anger management isn't to get rid of your anger. As we mentioned before, anger can be a really important emotion to feel. According to Mayo Clinic , "anger management is the process of learning to recognize signs that you're becoming angry, and taking action to calm down and deal with the situation in a productive way." If that doesn't sound like reason enough to work on your anger management, here are some other ways you might benefit.  Anger management can help you: Communicate more effectively Have more fulfilling interpersonal r

What Is Transformational Housing?

     Hello and welcome back ACCC members. Today we will be covering a topic that is essential to our development here at ACCC. As many of you may know, ACCC offers housing for female individuals who are over the age of 18. One of the goals of the Shared Housing program is to help women by providing them with employment preparation skills, restoring their self-confidence and rebuilding their self-sufficiency as well as a myriad of other programs to name a few.  There is an application process that needs to be followed in order to vet if ACCC is the proper space for you.      Feel free to reach out to us at acccbsm@gmail.com or visit our website at acccbsm.com for more information. Okay, so today’s topic is on transitional housing and transformational living.  Let’s get started!      Transitional housing is any type of living situation that is transitional. For example, if you or someone you know is living in a shelter, then moves into ACCC, and then obtains permanent housing; ACCC wou