The Gilmer Community Food Pantry is looking for new leadership.
The person putting out that call is both the former and current executive director of the community outreach nonprofit.
Allen Triebel, who’d been the food pantry’s director for several years before handing over the reigns in 2022, stepped back into the role last year after then-director Amber Kirkpatrick stepped down.
Like all duties at the local food pantry, director is a volunteer position. No one at the all-volunteer pantry receives or has ever received a paycheck, Triebel noted.
“If we ever go to hiring somebody, I don’t think (the community) will support it. I don’t think it will survive as a paid pantry,” he said.
With that in mind, Triebel is hoping to find a retired person who wants to give back to the community and has time to devote to the assorted managerial tasks required of the executive director.
“The three things a person needs to have is the passion for it, the time for it and the wherewithal that they can do it for free,” he said. “Maybe somebody who has retired because they had a good job and was successful, now they’re looking for something else to do.”
Duties include fulfilling various government regulations, filing the correct forms, making sure the pantry shelves remain stocked and other “big picture type” things.
Triebel said he devotes about 40 hours a week to the food pantry, but that won’t apply to everyone.
There are no set work hours, but Tuesday and Wednesday (when food is distributed to clients) are the two big days the director needs to be onsite at the Highway 52 East facility. You also have to be prepared to answer phone calls from volunteers at any time, he noted.
“Someone who’s younger and more technology savvy can probably get some of the stuff done a lot quicker than me,” Triebel said.
Triebel, a retired insurance claims adjuster, said he’s the second-longest serving director at the food pantry, which officially incorporated as a nonprofit in 2001. His predecessor, Judy Farmer, led the pantry for 15 years before moving in 2017 and was its longest serving executive director, he noted.
Last year, the food pantry saw a more than 30 percent jump in new clients, while also coping with rising food prices, supply chain shortages and other issues.
At 76, Triebel hopes the next transition of leadership will ensure the facility continues to meet the needs of Gilmer County residents for years to come.
“We don’t have a succession plan, but I think there needs to be one,” he said.
Anyone interested in applying for director of the Gilmer Community Food Pantry can contact Triebel at 706-889-5511.