A Day at DenUM

As previously posted, I am the Volunteer Manager at DenUM. However, the last time I reported, I still didn't know what that meant. For the time being, I have more things figured out. (Don't mistake that for "knowing what's going on".) I spend about half of my time in my office working in my office, on volunteer "stuff" or with volunteers. The other half of my time is spent in Outreach. At DenUM, Outreach refers to the first floor where our clients come for food bags. There are three positions that make up Outreach and ALL, (I mean all) the staff at DenUM share these positions. If you are on Back Up, it means you are the first one called if things get too busy in Outreach. Intake is the person that takes each client to the intake station, asks a bunch of questions in order to update our records and answer any questions the client may have. The other position, MOD, or Manager Of the Day, sits at the front desk, greets all clients and screens for eligibility. My personal favorite position is MOD. I can't quite place it, but I enjoy being the one to greet people, being the front line and sitting at the desk! I don't enjoy saying no and turning clients away because they have either come too early (you have to wait 30 days between each food bag) or because they don't have the correct piece of mail (it must have name, address and a date less than 45 days old. It's harder than you might think!). I also don't enjoy the occasional "cursing out" that comes with telling clients 'no'. After my first, err, 'experience', I told my supervisor and she said, "Welcome to DenUM". It really is a part of life at DenUM and all staff have to learn not to take it personally because we are working with people that are carrying some heavy burdens. Most likely, if they need to come to a food bank, there are some things in their life that aren't going well. It's no surprise that some clients start with a predisposition towards frustration and anger. Anyway, I digress.

The "flow" of DenUM is irregular and unpredictable at best. We can predict our "busy-factor"based on some things, but none are reliable. Usually, when the weather is bad, we have fewer clients. Today we got 6+ inches of snow and had a whopping 11 clients all morning. After the bad weather has passed, we usually have a spike in the number of clients. Last week we were averaging almost 100 a day. There is a small ebb and flow based on food stamps and whether or not clients are receiving them or have already run out for the month. Apparently it is always slow when Tammy, the executive director, is the MOD. However, I'm almost convinced that it is extra busy when I am on intake.

Life is rarely the same from one day to the next at DenUM and it is impossible to predict what any given day will look like. But I like it. :)