He helped feed Gilmer’s neediest residents during his tenure
Almost dying in a car accident was part of why Allen Triebel volunteered as Gilmer Community Food Pantry (GCFP) director.
“I called the treasurer and said, ‘I didn’t die in a car accident. I’ll volunteer to be the director at the food pantry,’” he said.
In 2019, he hit a SUV in his 55-year-old MG. The car had hardly any safety features, and for years, Triebel had assumed that if he had an accident with it, he would die. He was so surprised after the accident that after getting out of his car, he looked back to check if he could see his own body.
“I didn’t die. There has to be a reason I didn’t die,” Triebel said.
Triebel began his work as director Feb. 22, 2019.
At GCFP, directorship is an unpaid position. And Triebel wouldn’t have it any other way.
“If I was making $100,000 as director of the food pantry, how could I go up and ask somebody for $10,000?” he asked.
When he began working as director, the pantry was in a disastrous financial situation, he said.
With stocks and bonds included, it had less than $20,000 left, and spent between $2,000 and $3,000 each week. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, half of its volunteers had left.
“I knew nothing about the pantry other than fluffing bags and how to fill out a five-by-eight card,” Triebel said.
On paper, he seemed like a terrible choice for director.
In college, he got a degree in teaching. After that, he served as an Army Special Forces Officer, parachuting and planting mines on boats.
“Out of 100 people to get in the Army, only one makes Special Forces. And only one out of 100 people in Special Forces gets to go through Combat Diver School,” Triebel said.
When his time in the Army ended, he went into the insurance business with Farmers Insurance.
But in the Army, he had learned how to never give up, especially when things seemed impossible.
“I do it just because people have told me I can’t do it,” Triebel said.
He put a plan in place to return the pantry to a healthy financial condition.
“This is a very giving community,” he said.
Triebel figured out how to get grants, bring in donations and solve problems until the pantry was on a good financial footing.
He asked volunteers to step up when others quit. Their efforts helped the pantry pull through.
He said one of his greatest strengths as a director is fundraising.
“If I wanted to, I’d find out how much money you have in your wallet, and I could get half of it,” he said.
Often, startling generosity is just a few requests away.
When Triebel put a sign outside GCFP announcing that “Heroes Work Here,” two passing vacationers gave the pantry $20,000.
“It’s almost like God said, ‘If you have a need, somebody will give it to you, or you’ll get it from somewhere,’” Triebel said.
Sometimes, local businesses have given GCFP $10,000 at one time.
For Triebel, not getting a salary frees him to push for more donations, he said.
But helping with a food pantry isn’t just a matter of putting in hours or giving dollars,
It’s a matter of commitment to helping your neighbors, he said. And this commitment should continue no matter the difficulty of the task at hand.
“I need people in the unglamorous days of the year,” Triebel said.
Whenever GCFP had an emergency, Triebel was ready to respond.
Broken refrigerators in early morning hours, making sure food arrives and that meat for holiday meals were available all demanded his full attention, he said. After all, if he couldn’t fix it, some Gilmer residents wouldn’t be able to eat.
“I can’t sleep at night,” Triebel said of his time on the job. “I worry about the pantry.”
Someone might walk eight miles to the food pantry and find nothing for their family. Someone might have to choose whether their children go hungry or don’t get heating.
When faced with these responsibilities, Triebel said he went the extra mile.
“Somebody who had nothing thought I was Santa Claus because I took an extra half hour to drive him because he couldn’t carry the bags,” he said.
Today, the pantry owns its own building, has no debt, and has just put in a $55,000 freezer.
“I’m not very smart, but I can outwork anybody, and I can figure out how to do something,” he said.
Triebel is retiring because at 78, he is no longer up for the job.
“I’m forgetting things that I didn’t forget before,” he said.
In his retirement, he may move to Panama along with his beloved husky, Kira. But he might go somewhere else if Panama doesn’t fit his needs.
As he moves on, new director Adam Pilkinton will take his position.
Triebel has been volunteering in soup kitchens, as a court-appointed special advocate, as a mentor in the school system, in the Army and more his entire life.
He estimates that if he were paid minimum wage for all his volunteer work, he would have earned more than $250,000 from it.
“I cannot do all the good the world needs; but the world needs all the good I can do,” he said.
Those wishing to donate to GCFP can learn more at gilmerfoodpantry.org.