John’s Testimony
John began volunteering with St. Matthew’s House after he retired and moved to Naples in November 2019. He says volunteering was one of his priorities when he retired.
“In management, traveling all over the world, I found it difficult to find time [to volunteer],” John said. “So I said, when I had an opportunity to retire, this is a time to make giving back a higher priority.”
John wasn’t familiar with St. Matthew’s House before he moved down here for retirement, but soon the name was popping up in conversation and on the news.
“I saw the food distribution side [in the news], but then I saw all the other programs you guys deliver and realized, ‘Oh, wow, they’re not just feeding people!’” John said.
He says the diversity of volunteer options stuck out to him because many people assume volunteering is just manual labor, and though that is a big part, there’s plenty of other opportunities to help by finding your niche. For John, his background in project management proved a useful way to volunteer his talents.
John currently spends two days a week volunteering manual labor at the food warehouse and one day working on the database tool he created for the warehouse team. He says the idea for the database came to him after volunteering in different areas across the organization and seeing the process of getting, packing and distributing donations.
The tool is an Excel-based database designed to track donations and monitor inventory.
John and the rest of the food warehouse team track the donations coming in and identify the items. By tracking the retail value of the items, the team is able to communicate how much monetary value the donations are worth. The items are then added to the list of inventory, so they can monitor what’s donated versus what’s purchased and how long it will last.
John also created a separate database for production to help calculate how many boxes and bags are being produced compared to how many are being distributed. This helps with inventory and also improves scheduling to know if the warehouse team needs more volunteers to increase production.
The databases are constantly improving as the team continues to make updates with feedback they receive from across the organization.
“Each time we share the insights and knowledge we’ve gained interest, and the good thing with that is that it triggers questions which allow us to make it better,” John said.
But the recognition isn’t why John volunteers. He says his favorite part about volunteering is interacting with all the different people he meets whether it’s residents from the different programs, fellow volunteers or those he helps serve. For him, it’s about finding community. John loves being part of a team, knows them all by name and can tell you story after story of volunteering adventures.
John may be retired from his career, but he’s still working hard and helping make a difference with St. Matthew’s House.
“Anytime you do something and see an impact on an individual or a community, it always feels rewarding,” John said. “That’s the whole reason for giving. You give; they receive; you receive more.”